Michael Mandrake --- Strides Despite Opposition

Greetings friends!


Hi to Goddess fish. Happy to see everyone today.


I'm the gay male muse of Sharita Lira, the longwinded one, more complicated. She calls me that. *grins*


Anyway, its great to be here with BL and share some fantastic blogposts about writing, our books but I'm usually the muse that occasionally will step out on social issues.


I feel strongly about a lot of things that have to do with the rights of the GLBT community and the struggles to gain the same treatment as straight indviduals do. Has society made strides on that yet?


Is everything getting better?

Somewhat but there are still issues to be worked out as gays and lesbians strive to be accepted in this crazy society we live in, but people are starting to recognize, around the globe, how important it is for the GLBT nation to have the same rights as heterosexuals.

Just look at what happened recently. New York became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage! Impressive, considering the state has that hard reputation right? They join, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and DC as the only 6 to recognize same sex marriage. Why should that be?

Now, in other states, like mine in Illinois, civil unions are accepted and hopefully this is just a step to the Land of Lincoln doing as the other six have done and support everyones right to marry.

And this past summer, Parliament voted to legalize same sex marriage in the UK! That's awesome. What a joy for them. When will the US do the same? Hopefully not too far behind. 

The acceptance of openly gay and lesbian troops into the military. Long time coming right? DADT or Don’t Ask Don’t tell is out. While I’m in no way, shape, or form a fan of military service, it still isn’t right for the government to hold back individuals from serving. Why should one’s orientation stop them from doing the job they love? Why should it matter if they love someone of their own gender to serve their country? Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

Lastly, more awareness. The Trevor Project, NOH8, the It Gets Better campaign, among others are definitely a sign that there is an outcry for tolerance. Unfortunately, tragedy has had to strike, in the case of the Trevor Project, to happen in order for something to be done but a lot of times that is what has occurred in cases with any cause that finally gets national attention.

Every year in June, in places around the country and other parts of the world, the gay pride parades abound with people who are and in support of the gay community walking hand in hand. Colorful floats, people from all races and creeds, joining together to alert the world that GLBT nation deserves to be recognized. It’s such a great event. I attended the one here in Chicago this year and it was a blast.

(picture taken from GSA Network)

 Even with all these positives, there is still much to do. Unfortunately, gay bashing still exists. It may not be the main headline but that doesn't mean it hasn’t gone away. Youths are still bullied and some so traumatized it drives them to suicide. Thankfully, there are organizations like http://www.gsanetwork.org/what-we-do and http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html to be a source of assistance for the community. There needs to be more like this around the country, especially for our young people to have a place when they have nowhere to turn.

There are still places in the world where homosexuality is illegal. Uganda is very close to making it punishable by death. Unreal.

In Georgia, sodomy is illegal. Something I didn’t know until recently. This can be translated to say that the state of Georgia frowns upon gay relationships. What’s wrong with this picture when in other states it’s okay to have more than one wife. Legally.

Moving on.

Acceptance and tolerance still have a long ways to go but with everyone taking the time to realize that what someone else does with their life shouldn’t be your choice, things would get better. I mean, think. Would you want someone else dictating to you who you should love? Think about it.

Let's continue to celebrate the positives but realize this isn't the end. There is still much to do and it is up to us as individuals to stand up for our rights!

Links

The Literary Triad - http://www.thelitriad.com/#!
Michael Mandrake - http://tabooindeed.blogspot.com

Rawiya - http://rawiyaserotica.blogspot.com

Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/rawiyamikembl

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSharitaLira
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3542690

Its Raining Men Blog - http://rainingmenamen.blogspot.com

 Buylink – http://www.amazon.com/A-Second-Chance-ebook/dp/B005J86MU0/ref=pd_rhf_gw_tpp_tab0_p_t_1

Blurb: Hesitant to begin a relationship with someone new, two police officers who have lost their partners in the line of duty try to deal with their obvious attraction to one another. Will one of them accept the other’s proposition to start over or remain alone because of their places on the police force?

EXCERPT PG:

While we continued to chat, I noticed DeClerc in my peripheral. I couldn’t help but stare at him. I moistened my lips, biting the bottom as he came closer.

Damn…

“Um, hello…” I looked past the chief to take a long gander at Daniel. I stood up, extending my hand. “I’m Farris Beason.”

He accepted. “Daniel Declerc. Nice to meet you.” The handshake was firm, his hands soft like a female.

Don chuckled, “See Beason, if you would’ve been in the right frame of mind you could’ve joined Daniel today.”

While we exchanged smiles, I gawked at the pretty face in front of me. Daniel was even more gorgeous up close. The only distraction was the defect on his finger. Who was lucky enough to call him theirs? I had to find out.

“Pity,” Daniel said with a grin. “Maybe when you’ve recovered from your wild night?” He cocked an eyebrow.

I laughed, “Yeah, um…maybe…”

We’d broken our hand gestures but not our gaze. Maybe he did play for my team, but the question remained, who was he married to?