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Stop
Hate 2000 Newsletter April 18, 2006
Leaders
and heroes can come from very unlikely sources. Since our last
newsletter, an American World War II hero passed away. Desmond Doss
was a conscientious objector during World War II. Desmond Doss
refused to kill for his country. Serving in the military in a
non-combatant role during World War II was not popular. In fact,
being a conscientious objector was so unpopular one web site reports
Desmond Doss was offered a Section
8 discharge, but Doss refused to
not serve his country. Doss served faithfully,
even though he received death
threats from
a fellow soldier. He served in the Asian theater and served in some
of the fiercest fighting of World War II. Doss risked his life to
ensure injured troops received first aid and were evacuated for
medical treatment. Desmond Doss was the first conscientious objector
to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. When presenting Desmond
Doss with the Congressional Medal of Honor, President Harry
Truman told Doss, “I'm proud of you, you really deserve
this. I consider this to be a greater honor than being President.”
A brief summary of Desmond Doss' citation can be found on the
Surgeon General's Office
of Medical History web site. Information about a documentary
about Desmond Doss can be found on the desmonddoss.com
web site.
There
are many other brave heroes in society. They are men and women who
refuse to not
serve humanity. These are people of intense courage,
courage enough to change the world. Men and women of color who fight
for equality for all visible minorities are heroes. Heroes who
worked hard to ensure the story of the Holocaust was preserved and
that people guilty of World War II's hate crimes were brought to
justice. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people who have
the personal integrity to openly be themselves, and who have the
courage to struggle to leave the world a better place for other
members of sexual minorities.
* * *
The
Adventist
Review carries
a story about two teenagers who have been charged in connection with
arson. According to the article, the youth are accused of having set
fire to five Baptist churches one day. A few days later they set fire
to more churches, destroying four more churches. In a later attack
they are accused of setting fire to an additional five churches. The
arson attacks are very disturbing. Without knowing the motive for the
wave of church arson, one is left very concerned about the
developments. A series of articles and audio news clips about the
church burnings in Alabama can be found in the National
Public Radio web site.
The
Columbia
Broadcasting System web
site has a page that shows a map of the United States, with the
states color coded to show which states allow for same-sex marriage,
allow same-sex couples to adopt children, and have hate crimes that
cover sexual orientation or that cover both sexual orientation and
gender identification. The CBS web site has photographs from gay
pride events around the world. There is a photograph of two parents.
One is carrying a brightly colored sign that reads “God blessed
me with a gay son” and another parent is carrying a sign that
reads “Blessed with a gay step-son.” The parents carrying
those signs appear to be doing a wonderful job of supporting and
encouraging their sons.
The
60
Minutes section
of the CBS web site has an article about the causes of homosexuality.
The article is titled “The Science of Sexual Orientation. The
introduction to the article states that the question of the causes of
sexual orientation are important for political, social, religious,
and scientific reasons. The fascinating article has a brief
description of two twins, one of which has very traditional interests
and the other does not. Any differences between the two boys is not
due to environment, because they are in the same home. The article
talks about the possibility hormonal factors in the womb could play a
factor in sexual orientation. This article is a “must-read”
article for people interested in the causes of homosexuality and for
those who are trying to help people overcome their fear of gay men,
lesbians, and bisexual men and women.
We
encourage you to visit our Web
Resources page.
On that page, you will find links to many valuable web sites. One of
the most recent additions is a link to the Rainbow
Zine web
site. Rainbow Zine has a wide variety of news articles about the
queer community. You are encouraged to email us with suggestions for
web sites that can be added to our list of web resources. We are
looking for sites that can help reduce all forms of prejudice,
discrimination and hate crimes.
The
California Department of
Justice web site has reports on different types of crime in
California. Hate crime reports can be found for the years 1995 to
2004 inclusive.
A
few of the news stories we have been following appear below:
Homophobia
and homophobia-related violence is an international concern. The
problem of hatred and violence against gay and bisexual people is
not limited to one country or one region of the world. Hatred is an
equal opportunity employer. In an International
Lesbian and Gay Association article, concern is expressed that
the major of Warsaw refused to issue a permit for a gay pride
parade. The article expresses concerns that a parade permit was
granted for a “normality parade.” According to the
article, the parade was an anti-gay parade, in which skinheads were
participating. The article states there has been an increase in
anti-gay violence in Poland since the “normality parade.”
You
may recall movies with cars that had an eject button. You hit the
button and your passenger is thrown out of the car. The United
Church of Christ is back in the news, because they have an ad
that depicts people in a church where there is an eject button.
Anybody who is not welcome is ejected from the church when the
button is hit. A few of the types of people ejected are a mother
with a crying child, a gay couple, a single person and handicapped
people. The new advertisement and more information about the United
Church of Christ's “God is Still Speaking” program can
be found on the God is Still
Speaking web site. The United Church of Christ's advertisements
for gay people stand in stark contrast with churches who condemn gay
people to hell.
A
2001 article on the American
Civil Liberties Union web site gives statistics regarding race
and incarceration rates. The statistics cited show that the
percentage of Black Americans are incarcerated, on parole or
probation is disproportionally high. The percentage of Black people
arrested for drug possession is substantially higher than it should
be given the percentage of Black people who are monthly drug users.
In California, visible minority youth are more than twice as likely
to have their cases tried as adults than white youth. The majority
of American states do not allow people convicted of a felony to vote
while they are in prison. Because visible minorities are more likely
to spend time in prison than white people, that has the net result
of reducing the voting power visible minority groups have.
The
365Gay.Com
web site has an article about a bill that is being debated in
California. Should the bill pass, it would be required that students
in California schools be taught about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgendered history.
A
PlanetOut news article states the Netherlands plan to deport gay
Iranians and Christian Iranians has been put on hold. Parliamentary
support for the plan was decreasing. Iran, a country that executes
gay people, was seen by fewer members of Parliament to be as safe
for gays and Christians as the Netherlands Immigration Minister was
claiming.
Minority
groups have often complained that the police do not respond
adequately to their concerns and to reports they have been the
victims of crime. The PlanetOut
web site has an article about a lesbian couple in Kansas City who
are reported to have been verbally harassed and were assaulted by a
woman with a bat. According to the article, the police did not
respond to the call for help by coming to the scene.
A
court ruling reported in PlanetOut
could reverberate, sending shock waves through the educational
system. A straight teenager living in a small Kansas town was
bullied and harassed with homophobic slurs from Grade 7 until Grade
11. He won a $440,000 lawsuit against the school division. Nothing
gets the attention of administrators to the plight of minority
students like a successful lawsuit. The Kansas school division is
appealing the court ruling.
The
book, Pink Blood, was briefly mentioned in our last newsletter. We
are mentioning it again in this newsletter, because the book is a
must read for people interested in homophobia-based hate crimes.
Information about the book can be found on the Pinkblood
web site. The book can be
purchased at www.amazon.ca
or www.amazon.com.
Anybody
with news about hate crimes is welcome to email us.
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