Controversy

LGBTQ+

So, my lovely girasoles. If you haven't figured it out already, I am a bisexual being. My heart beats for girls and guys. The LGBTQ+ movement around much longer than I have. In fact it may have been around in the 1920's but it wasn't a big as it is now. The LGBTQ+ movement is so accepting and warm, besides the outside haters it's like a big family that welcomes you with open arms. So if you are in the closet, I encourage you to come out. Although me saying that is hypocritical because I haven't come out to my own family yet. Maybe after I graduate, college that is. My parents are Christians and in the Christian community it's frowned upon. When I tell you coming out to my family is one of my biggest fears, I am not joking. I don't even talk about it around my parents because my dad is a die-hard old-school Christian and my mom is just super judgmental (love them though).

The LGBTQ+ community is more than just LGBTQ, clearly because of the plus sign but here's what it means.

Lesbian- Homosexual, likes the same sex, specifically female.

Gay- Homosexual, likes the same sex, specifically male.

Bisexual- Sexually attracted to both male and female.

Transgender-  Relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex.

Queer-  Originally a prerogative for gay, now being reclaimed by some gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons as a self-affirming umbrella term.

Questioning- To be unsure of or re-examining one's previously assumed sexual orientation or gender identity.

Intersex- A group of many conditions that causes people to be born in the middle of the spectrum from male to female. If there is a mix between testosterone and estrogen in the womb it can cause intersexuality.

Allies-  A person who is pro-LGBTQA+ and actively committed to diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and personal safety for all people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expression.

Asexual- A person who is not interested in or does not desire sexual activity, either within or outside of a relationship.

Advocate- An individual who is proactive and actively working to improve conditions and the environment so that it is more socially just.

Pansexual-  A person who is sexually interested in other people regardless of gender including males, females, transexuals, transvestites, gender benders, hermaphrodites, intersexuals, androgenous people, and those with sex chromosome anomaly.

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Doesn't asexuality sound like the best option? Unfortunately, you can't just choose what you like. Now, you may wonder, well Meadow if you're so comfortable telling us your bisexual, why can't you tell your family? If you aren't wondering that screw you, seriously, and I'm going to tell you anyway.

So, I can't come out to my mom because she's going to make me feel bad about it, like she does everything else, throw it in my face, and actually push me over the edge. She's extremely judgmental and always puts my business out there to her friends. I can't come out to my dad because, again, he's like a old-school, die-hard christian. He's going to ask questions on top of questions and probably try to put me in a private christian boarding school or some type of nunnery. Yes, it's that deep with him.

In the past and probably present, there has been attacks on the LGBTQ+ community that has left some of the friends and family of the targeted worried that these hate crimes will go unnoticed and continue to get worse. The following article is about 21-year-old Matthew Shepard's story.

On 6 October 1998, the 21-year-old decided to get a drink at the Fireside Lounge, a bar in the heart of the small downtown area. That's where he met Russell Henderson, also 21, and Aaron McKinney, 22, two high school dropouts who would pose as gay men before luring Matt into their truck to rob him. McKinney apparently told him "we're not gay and you're going to get jacked" before stealing $20 and with a .357-calibre pistol, McKinney and Henderson then drove a mile down the road before Henderson tied Matt to a wooden fence post and began beating him again. After his attackers fled, Matt remained there, unconscious, for 18 hours in below-freezing temperatures. He was discovered at 6pm the next afternoon by a mountain biker. He had suffered 18 blows to the head and face, including four skull fractures and a damaged brain stem. Matt was transferred to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. Police, meanwhile, called Dennis and Judy Shepard in Saudi Arabia to tell them what had happened and that their son might not live. Walking into the hospital, Dennis said it was the most devastating thing he had ever seen. Matt died of his injuries five days after the attack.

Aaron McKinnney was served with life in prison for the fact that Matthew's father, although he didn't oppose death penalty, he wanted him to remember that his son isn't alive on every holiday he celebrates. Laramie, Wyoming(the city of the murder) recently passed a local anti-discrimination ordinance on Wednesday May 13, 2015, almost 20 years after the incident. Matthew's mother, Judy, now works full time for the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which helps foster acceptance of LGBT people through community outreach. I'm not sure there was a conviction on Russell Henderson. This next article is about James Byrd Jr., although not a LGBTQ+ hate crime, still a hate crime nonetheless. 

 Walking home from his parents' house in the early morning hours of June 7, 1998, the 49-year-old Byrd accepted a ride home from three (allegedly drunk) white men: Shawn Allen Berry, Lawrence Russell Brewer and John William King. Byrd got in the bed of their pickup truck, but instead of taking him home, they drove him to a desolate area east of town, beat him severely, chained him to the back of the truck by his ankles and dragged him for more than three miles along an asphalt road. Byrd, who remained conscious throughout the dragging and even managed to keep his head up for a while during the incident, was killed when his right arm and head were severed after hitting the edge of a sewage drain culvert. Byrd's headless torso was dumped off Huff Creek Road in Jasper.   

Fortunately for Mr. Byrd Jr., months after the crime his 3 kidnappers were convicted of capital murder. Brewer was executed by the state of Texas on September 21, 2011(13 years later), marking the very first time in Texas history that a white person received a death penalty for the killing of a black person. I don't know how y'all feel about that but it seems like a problem that he was the first to receive death penalty over killing a black man. It is also stated in the article that Lawrence Brewer and John King were well-known white supremacists(King being a member of the KKK and having several racist tattoos, including one portraying a black man being lynched from a cross). It wasn't hard for officers to figure it was a racially-motivated hate crime.

The Byrd family worked with Matthew Shepard's family to pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was signed into law on October 28, 2009, by (my) President Barack Obama, with two of Byrd's sisters, Louvon Harris and Betty Boatner, by his side. Also, a handful of Wyoming lawmakers spring 2015 filed a brief urging the nation's highest court to reject same-sex marriage on the grounds that forcing states to accept it would violate other citizens' free-speech rights. 

I had that "....Really," face going on lmao. Nobody cared about the LGBTQ+ community's rights when Mississippi was holding down that law that granted private individuals and government workers the far-reaching ability to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people on religious grounds.

Anyways mi girasoles if you want a part 2 of all this juicy information let me know in the comment section and I will most definitely hit y'all with one. Are any of you guys a part of the LGBTQA+ community? Tell me what you identify yourself as and your coming out story if you have one. Do you guys personally know anyone that has went through something like this? Let me know that too. Next update coming soon, college has had a girl slumped girasoles. 143 ;)

If you TeamMindless or what was that late night thing called #TMAfterDark or something like that (over here slapping the crap out of my knee lol, gonna look for that hashtag on IG though) y'all remember that bs LMFAO they clowned my ass having me call that fake ass number.