Scripted

(Source: gaycrusader)

apihtawikosisan:

The Thorny Issue of Children in Costumes

allie0op:

Oh how cute I was back then…

How you feel when you see a picture like this is going to depend in large part on what you understand about what you’re seeing.

I see my children, in a classroom during a Halloween party, with two girls dressed up like ‘squaws’ (a word my children had thankfully never heard until that day).  I see my youngest daughter nearly in tears, explaining to me how the girls in costume were ‘war whooping’ in her face because they know she’s native.  I see her tell me how she was scared to ask them to stop.  I see her shake her head in the negative when I ask if her teachers intervened or told the girls what they were doing was wrong.

I see my daughter’s best friend give her a comforting hug, because she too knows what it’s like.  She is Chinese, and kids in her class haven’t been told that it isn’t okay to pull at the sides of your eyes and say “ching chong ching chong”.

I see settler parents smiling benevolently on their ‘ethnically costumed’ children.  I see their eyes passing over my daughter’s tears.  Kids will be kids they say. 

Kids will be kids.  They take their clues mainly from the adults in their lives.  They play act those adult roles until they become habits.  They learn to ignore the pain they cause other people, believing that as their parents tell them, “other people’s feelings are not your problem.  After all, you can either choose to be offended…or not.”

Kids will be kids.  They can be incredibly cruel to one another, and in the absence of any discernible differences they will still find ways to tease and belittle and exclude. 

But children also have a keen sense of justice.  A fierce understanding of what it feels like to be left out, mocked, put down.  Is it not our duty as adults to teach them to bridge that divide between ‘justice for me’ and ‘justice for all’? 

Children don’t come into the world with biases.  They learn them.  You can see the progression.  “The brown skinned girl” at first is only a way for them to explain to you which Chloe is being discussed.  If some other characteristic is present, they’re just as likely to use it.  “The one who always wears a gold headband.”  “The one who can’t eat wheat.”

But you see that change as they grow, and interact, and have lessons passed through parents to children to other children. You are not the only influence in their lives anymore, but you can be the most important.  When they come home telling you that a boy in their class was called a ‘sissy’ because he smuggled a Barbie doll to school, talk to them about gender roles.  When they say that kids were making fun of a classmate who has two moms, talk to them about love.  

When you hear from another parent that your child called another student ‘gay’, deal with it.  Don’t let that kind of behaviour go.  

Children are not to blame for what the adults in their lives teach them, but at some point, children do need to be held accountable for their own actions too.  We  should be striving to give them the skills necessary to make good decisions, because so much of their time is spent away from us once they’re in school.  If you talk to your kids about these things, you can bet that they’ll be talking about it at school too. 

And if more children had been talked to, maybe my daughter wouldn’t have felt so afraid to speak out when some parent thought it was merely harmless fun to send her child to school as a ‘squaw’.

Love Love Love.

(Source: ohdeargodwhy)

I LOVE this.

evanfleischer:

The Muppets “respond” to Fox News.

glitterpolitic:

This is a beautiful story of resistance.  Subtitled version here!

I am so in love with this.

lgbtlaughs:

[edited ‘Clean all the Things!’ Hyperbole and a Half image: “support trans girl scouts - buy all the cookies!”]

(Source: livingwithhopelivingwithheart)

btgrages:

eyehatedann:

ruffgem:

rabbitfeminist:

sinidentidades:

On Sunday, November 9th, 2008, over thirty radical queers from around the Midwest disrupted the sermon of a notoriously anti-queer and anti-choice megachurch. 

The Mount Hope Church is a deplorable, anti-queer megachurch in Lansing, Michigan. The church works to institutionalize transphobia and homophobia through several repulsive projects including organized ex-gay conferences and so-called hell houses in Halloween, which the faithful used to scare children with images of ghoulish abortionists and sodomites.

That afternoon, a small group of folks dressed in pink and black, equipped with a megaphone, black/pink flags, picket signs and an upside-down pink cross began demonstrating outside the church. The group was extremely loud and wildly offensive. The demonstration drew a majority of Mount Hope’s security staff outside to watch them. 

Meanwhile, with the guards pre-occupied by the distraction, over a dozen queers had put on their Sunday-best and infiltrated the church’s congregation. At the signal that the guards had been lured outside, the infiltrators sprung into action. 

A group stood up, declared themselves fags, and began screaming loudly. Upon hearing the loud interruption, other affinity groups went into action. A team that had been hiding under the pews in the closed-off balcony dropped a banner and pulled back the curtains to reveal “IT’S OKAY TO BE GAY! BASH BACK!”

Another faction rose to chant, “Jesus was a homo,” while flinging pamphlets, glitter, and condoms into the air. As ushers scrambled to collect the condoms, two women moved toward the pulpit, where they launched into a lusty kiss.

When asked why they did this, one of the members said, “We’re not trying to change people’s minds, we’re not trying to bend straight people to give us freedom—we’re fighting back. We’re going to stop them from preaching hate, stop them from creating an environment that’s unfriendly to gay, queer, and trans* people. We’re not going to be nice about it because they sure as hell aren’t being nice about it.”

…will someone do this with me and we can be “wildly offensive” together

too awesome

so cool

julia, you hear about this??!!

No! I hadn’t! Which is a damn shame because I look good in black and pink.

Not only is that a UCC church, but I know the student intern there. I am so proud!

religiousragings:

atheismfuckyeah:

sylverlining:

margraves:

mindscourge | liveship | xxboy

When I was in Boston this weekend I took my friend to Copley Square because it has, in my experience, two of the most beautiful churches in the country. Outside of Old South Church (a United Church of Christ church), there was this sign. Big. And it was amazing how great I felt to see Trans on there. I imagine it would be the same for someone who was homeless or a recovering addict or bisexual or something else that people often judge you for - or who had an identity that has made other religious communities abandon you or shame you. It also wasn’t just listed with things that are “problems” or difficult. It was listed with Male and Female, with Nerd and Cool Kid… I just think this sign is so powerful and I wanted to share it with everyone.

I like the idea of a church saying directly and publicly “Hey you’re trans (and this and this and that) and you’re ‘beloved.’”

“Beloved” brought tears to my eyes.

YOU ARE DOING CHRISTIANITY RIGHT. <3 

I don’t see things like this often enough, so when I saw this, I thought I should share. Because sometimes, even a jaded skeptic atheist like me can be made to smile when they do it right. 

~Mooglets

Give credit where credit is due.  :)

love this.

(Source: marierioux)

The article says that “hundreds of Indonesian punk fans came from around the country to attend the concert, organised to raise money for orphans”.

However, these 64 young adults were arrested by the police because “We need to fix them so that they will behave properly and morally. They need harsh treatment to change their mental behaviour.”

Wait, so young adults were arrested for being “immoral” while raising money for orphans. Please explain this to me. I don’t get it.

neverlandnow:

AFP - Indonesian sharia police are “morally rehabilitating” more than 60 young punk rock fans in Aceh province on Sumatra island, saying the youths are tarnishing the province’s image.

Since being arrested at a punk rock concert in the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Saturday night, 59 male and five female punk rock fans have been forced to have their hair cut, bathe in a lake, change clothes and pray.

(Source: fuckyeahsassygaynerd)