Thursday, February 23, 2012

An Open Letter to the Kids

It Gets Better.

Dan Savage, Ke$ha, Kathy Griffin, Perez Hilton, Hillary Clinton, Jason Derulo, Neil Patrick Harris, President Obama and countless others have made videos telling you this; you've been hearing it all year, from people older than you who have already arrived at that magical, mystical land of "Better", but maybe you're not there yet. And this is about Now, right?

I know - it's not "Better" right now. Sometimes "right now" just sucks.

I don't know you - you could be gay, bi, lesbian - you could be trans trying to figure out where you fit on that whole spectrum, you could be questioning who you are, who you love - hell, you could even be straight - I don't know you....

But I've been there, too.

I've been on the bad side of a fist to the face. I've gotten my head put through a window for being "different"...and it sucked. Haters have been around since...well, since EVER, and honestly - I don't know if we'll ever be able to get rid of them entirely. It would be nice, but most likely, there's always gonna be someone who despises "different".

Haters are gonna hate; you sure as hell don't need Daddy to tell you that.

I'll tell you something though - in the end, the haters of this world don't win. I know - it feels like they're gonna win - it always feels like that. Any time real social change has come about, it has always felt like a lost cause...until it won. In the end, human beings want to help people more than we want to cause pain. We want to love more than we want to hate. Creation is always more rewarding than destruction. Hate is backward thinking; Love is forward thinking. You have to keep moving forward.

The Right Wing thinks that your generation is lazy; that you're a bunch of slackers with no direction just looking for a handout. They think that they can not only deprive you of rights that they take for granted, but try to further limit those rights that you already have. Why? Because they don't like who you are. And they don't think you'll fight back.

Well, you have to fight. Y'know why it gets better? Because of all those brave folks that fought to get to where we are today. The Mattachine Society, Harvey Milk, Lee Brewster, Sylvia Rivera, Michael Callen, Audre Lorde, Christine Jorgensen, the patrons of Compton's Cafeteria, the brave Kings and Queens of the Stonewall riots and way too many other people to mention here - our society is where it is today because these people, these amazing people, stood up to the hate and fought to make a place for themselves in this world. Now it's your turn. If you're at the bottom right now...if you feel like things just couldn't get any worse and you couldn't fall down any further...then there's no where to go but up. Take a minute, take a breath - get some sleep and wake up tomorrow ready to move forward. Ready to make your way. Some days it won't happen. Some days will feel like you're going backwards. But you'll get there - you'll get to that magical, mystical place called "Better" - if you keep fighting, if you keep trying...

If you keep waking up to a new tomorrow.

Please don't give up. Please, please don't let the Haters win. I know that life might be Hell for you right now. But, as someone once said,

"When you're going through Hell...keep going."

The video below is a song by a group called XELLE - they'll be donating proceeds of this song to GLSEN, who will be putting that money to work in their efforts to ensure that schools are safe for every student, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Listen. Buy. Support.

Fight.



Stay strong, kid. We'll see you tomorrow.

Love. Always.

Daddy

Send Out The Clowns









First, they came for the Muppets, and I didn't speak out, because I was not a Muppet...



Then they came for the Girl Scouts, and I didn't speak out, because I was not a Girl Scout...



But then they came for THE LORAX -











































When you come for the Lorax, Daddy is just gonna lose his shit. Lou Dobbs acts like The Lorax is a recent creation, penned by Obama hisself as a new mascot for the 99% movement.




Lou Dobbs is a Weenie.




The Lorax has been around since 1971, written during a period of time when the Pacific Northwest was being stripped of great swaths of forests, and much of the rest of the country was suffering from the effects of massive littering, dumping and industrial waste. I used to think that industrial waste being dumped into the Great Lakes was something that could be universally thought of as being "bad". But the folks at FOX News seem to think that cleaning up the environment is a Communist plot.

I simply have no words to counter such incredible stupidity.

These are the people that warned of "the Gay Teletubbie"; these are the people that said you could get a pap smear and breast exam at Walgreens. If you think of the words coming out of their mouths as anything but comedy, you do so at your own peril.

But, in case you do take them seriously, let Daddy calm your fears -



The Muppets are not out to get you.

The Girl Scouts are not a threat to your way of life.

Dr. Seuss and his books will not bring about the downfall of society.

Adults who try to make you scared of these things are funny clowns, and should not be taken seriously.




Watch;




Keep Smiling,

Daddy








Monday, February 13, 2012

Daddy on the Edge of "Getting Better"

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

Matthew 22:39


"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

John 15:12


"God is Love."

1 John 4:8


No where in the New Testament does it say - "except for gay people". Y'know why? Jesus didn't exclude. All have sinned. All those who believe can have everlasting life. All are worthy of God's love.


The good people of the Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin school district didn't get the memo, apparently, and had made it a part of school policy that anyone gay or perceived to be so could be heckled, tormented, beaten and verbally tortured - their lives could be made a living hell until suicide appeared to be the only escape. And, if that was the district's goal, well then - job well done.


Nine students in this school district took their own lives within a two year period. Because, in their school district, hating on people is okay. Beating up what you don't understand is okay. Fighting for the death of anyone that is not exactly like you...okay. And children died. Now listen, I don't give a damn what you believe, or what you think is right, or what qualifies as acceptable behavior in your little backwater - there's one thing that you need to know, and it's pretty frigging universal -


Children are not supposed to die.




CHILDREN ARE NEVER SUPPOSED TO DIE.



Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God.
Mark 10:14


Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
Mt 18:10


Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Mt 18:14


I want to thank Mitchell S. Gilbert over at Addicting Info for his article about this ("LGBT Teens Need Lifeguards: No Experience Required") and for linking to the following video. I first watched this vid early this morning...and it left me a puddle on the floor. Now, let me tell you - Daddy is one jaded son of a gun, especially before his first cup of coffee, but this song had me weeping. Because it's filled with Love. It's filled with Hope. It's filled with a spirit and a voice and a prayer that might have saved those nine innocent souls, might have helped them make it through another day, if only they had been able to hear it.





"What we call love is the way we reconcile our search for individual fulfillment with the fact that we are social animals. For love means creating for another the space in which another person might flourish, at the same time as the other person does this for you. The fulfillment of each becomes the ground for the fulfillment of the other."
~Terry Eagleton



Spread the Love,

Daddy

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Daddy on the Edge of a Do Si Do

Ladies and Gentlemen, please ready your check books,
prepare your sweet tooth, and return your tray tables to their
upright positions.

It's Go Time.

A few weeks ago, I told you about a girl in California that wanted you to support hate, bigotry and closemindedness by NOT buying Girl Scout Cookies this year. She wanted to send a message to the Girl Scouts of America that treating a transgender seven year old girl with respect, love and support was wrong. Daddy would like your help in sending the opposite message - any organization open and intelligent enough to set aside byzantine stereotypes and fears - any group that chooses instead to support a child that many in our society would completely shun (on a good day) - well son, that group gets Daddy's Seal of Approval. That group gets Daddy's cash.

I'd take a cookie for that group.

I hope you will all join me in making this a record-breaking year for Girl Scout Cookies sales. Now, I know there's a lot of us that have sworn off sweets, and I don't want anyone to have to compromise their convictions. Luckily, there's a way you can support the GSA and our US Armed Forces, and you don't have to let one Thin Mint pass your lips.

It's called "Operation Cookie Drop" - here's a bit from the GSA blog - click the hyperlink if you want to go there directly;

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Operation Cookie Drop a Huge Success


DVIDS reports that United States service members recently got a taste of home with cookies donated by Girls Scout of Hudson Valley, N.Y., through Operation Cookie Drop.

Operation Cookie Drop began in the wake of the aftermath of 9/11. Girl Scout communities all over the Hudson Valley began sending cards, letters and boxes of Girl Scout cookies to as many servicemen and women they could. The project began with 36 girls and 111 boxes of cookies and has now expanded to 849 girls and 56,000 boxes of cookies. Girl Scouts along with 25 sailors from Fort Dix, N.J., helped package boxes of cookies in preparation for shipment to troops serving overseas. The cookies were donated by customers who wanted to send cookies to the service members stationed overseas. In addition to the 56,000 Girl Scout cookies shipped to Kuwait, 1,000 boxes went to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. for wounded warriors, 2,000 boxes went to Stewart Air Force Base, N.Y., to be flown out to Iraq and Afghanistan and 1,500 additional boxes were sent out by local Girl Scout communities to soldiers from the Hudson Valley serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Pretty Cool, huh? You can support the GSA, support the troops, and still maintain that New Years Resolution. All of the Good and none of the Guilt. I love it.

Another way you can show your support is through a group called TransYouth Family Allies. This group now features a Transgender Girl Scout Support Page. From there, you can learn more about this issue, donate to the Girl Scouts of Colorado or donate to GSA Colorado's "Power Up" program, which now has new LGBT anti-bullying support included in the curriculum.

Finally, if you just want to buy massive amounts of cookies for you and your family, friends, PTA, church group, local food bank - you can do that, too! Here's the link to your handy dandy cookie finder, where you can find out what troop is selling cookies near you - click the cookie -







Help the Girl Scouts out this year. It's the yummiest Good you'll ever do.





Daddy