Today I read about what I hope is a giant step forward for LGTBQ folks in the USA. Carl Nassib, Defensive End for the Las Vegas Raiders came out as gay on Monday. This shouldn't be a big deal--but for two reasons it is.
1-Colin Kaepernick. 6 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, and he was dropped from the NFL, where he did what he does best, for standing up for his principals. Even years later, when he signed an endorsement deal with Nike, he's still controversial to many. Yet Black Lives Matter is a slogan we need to start living every day. I'm not Black, but I have Black friends. What affects them involves me too. Don't tell me all lives matter. When Black lives matter, THEN all lives will matter.
2--Many of today's young people don't understand what the big fuss is about LGBTQ acceptance. To them it's no big deal. I've subbed in high school classes where the teacher leaves a note telling me that a certain student prefers to go by THIS name, not the one on the seating chart. It's tough enough being a teenager, let alone a teenager today, with social media a huge threat to even a confident adult's peace of mind. But to find that you're not comfortable in your own body? Or that you're attracted to people of your own sex? Then to be rejected by your family and friends, with no safe refuge in sight? Facts are that 5-10% of LGBTQ teens attempt suicide--which is 1.5-3% higher than the rate for hetero-teens.
Suicide is on my mind because I have a wake to go to, for a dear friend's son. In the past 6 years, this is the third young man who I watched grow up, who has taken the ultimate exit from their depression and pain. And to my knowledge none of them were LGBTQ. This is a tragedy that affects us all. We are failing our young people, if they can't see any way forward.
So to honor Carl Nassib's choice to go public, inviting the inevitable backlash he'll surely face, and to help every young LGBTQ person who feels they have no one to depend on, and no where to turn to, I will give $3.00 for each comment left on this blog, to The Trevor Project. www.thetrevorproject.org/
I can't forget to mention that I'm on a friend's blog for her June celebration of LGBTQ romance. I don't write LGBTQ romance per se, but I do occasionally have gay characters who insist on being a part of my stories. As always, I obey my muse. See my post at: Beyond Romance, the website owned by Lisabet Sarai--who writes romances involving all permutations of people together--sometimes at the same time! LOL.
And please check out the other posts in this month's Charity Blog Hop. They're all for good causes--and there's no cost to you. Remember, we're all in this life together--no one gets to choose how they're born--only how they act toward others. A little empathy goes a long way!
1-Colin Kaepernick. 6 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, and he was dropped from the NFL, where he did what he does best, for standing up for his principals. Even years later, when he signed an endorsement deal with Nike, he's still controversial to many. Yet Black Lives Matter is a slogan we need to start living every day. I'm not Black, but I have Black friends. What affects them involves me too. Don't tell me all lives matter. When Black lives matter, THEN all lives will matter.
2--Many of today's young people don't understand what the big fuss is about LGBTQ acceptance. To them it's no big deal. I've subbed in high school classes where the teacher leaves a note telling me that a certain student prefers to go by THIS name, not the one on the seating chart. It's tough enough being a teenager, let alone a teenager today, with social media a huge threat to even a confident adult's peace of mind. But to find that you're not comfortable in your own body? Or that you're attracted to people of your own sex? Then to be rejected by your family and friends, with no safe refuge in sight? Facts are that 5-10% of LGBTQ teens attempt suicide--which is 1.5-3% higher than the rate for hetero-teens.
Suicide is on my mind because I have a wake to go to, for a dear friend's son. In the past 6 years, this is the third young man who I watched grow up, who has taken the ultimate exit from their depression and pain. And to my knowledge none of them were LGBTQ. This is a tragedy that affects us all. We are failing our young people, if they can't see any way forward.
So to honor Carl Nassib's choice to go public, inviting the inevitable backlash he'll surely face, and to help every young LGBTQ person who feels they have no one to depend on, and no where to turn to, I will give $3.00 for each comment left on this blog, to The Trevor Project. www.thetrevorproject.org/
I can't forget to mention that I'm on a friend's blog for her June celebration of LGBTQ romance. I don't write LGBTQ romance per se, but I do occasionally have gay characters who insist on being a part of my stories. As always, I obey my muse. See my post at: Beyond Romance, the website owned by Lisabet Sarai--who writes romances involving all permutations of people together--sometimes at the same time! LOL.
And please check out the other posts in this month's Charity Blog Hop. They're all for good causes--and there's no cost to you. Remember, we're all in this life together--no one gets to choose how they're born--only how they act toward others. A little empathy goes a long way!
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