Time to make history today.

You know, usually I post fun little things, blow the dust off this blog and maybe run a contest or even write about something writerly. This isn't a daily kind of thing, and I've long since accepted that I just don't have the fortitude to force it to be. I some times even post something funny.

Today, I just can't. Today, I think I've hit my "all I can take" limit.

For two reasons. One because of what I've been reading, and the other because of a very nice young woman whom I met today.

It's no secret that I write under two names, but this isn't about what I write, so much as about the whole misconception that intolerance, discrimination and vile hate is so blase that it has almost--almost--taken a back seat to other issues. You know, like the new kinds of attacks the people stuck in the last century but living in, and screwing up this one, will make. (Seriously, some of them make me shudder, they're so ludicrous and vile. Also makes me wonder how they sleep at night, thinking this stupidity up.)

And see, here's my problem. This is what started my day:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202


And then there was this:
http://www.karigregg.com/?p=1226

And this:
http://stephanihechtauthor.blogspot.com/2012/02/uncomfortable-discrimination.html?spref=fb

So what do these things have in common, at least for me? Simple.
DISCRIMINATION.

Now tell me something, if there was a sign at any school that said NO BLACKS, that school would be fined, board members and the school district would be taken to task, right? What about NO WOMEN? NO IRISH? NO INDIAN? NO PROTESTANTS? NO ASIAN? NO JEWISH?

Well, of course you don't see these signs or restrictions. But they were once a part of our history. This discrimination against the GLBT community MUST become a page of history. Why?

That first link? Those kids are DYING. They are being trampled by the mindset of those who refuse to accept that they are real people. Not important enough? What if it's your best friend who kills themself in utter hopelessness? Your brother? Your sister? Your son or daughter? When does it become important enough to stop and take notice? And please notice I'm not bringing religion into this. Want to know why?

IT DOESN'T BELONG IN THIS FIGHT.

The reason I'm writing this blog is heartwrenching and long overdue on my part. I'm writing it for B, who was supremely awesome, and for her brother. Who is gay. Who is an undergraduate at a local university. Who is trying to find a way to "fit in".

Tell me something. Why does he have to fight to fit in at all? He's human. He's a student. He's a nice guy from the way B spoke of him. Ambitious and intelligent.

So why is he having to struggle for equal rights? Do I need to repeat the "he's human" part?

Discrimination is being indoctrinated into the next generation as an OKAY ideal. And it's not. It's just NOT. Whether a person is GLBT, or any other aspect that differentiates them from you, discrimination is still discrimination.

I'm not going to go on about hate speech and all the damage that does. I lived with it. Bullying. Not GLBT, but just like the kids in Anoka, I was bullied by students and teachers. And one high school nurse. I have had and probably will always have a low self-esteem from those years of being treated like utter shit. And it wasn't just them. I had major issues with my brother. (That hatchet at least has been buried, and to my mother's relief, not in each other's backs.)

But one thing I do have is my rights. I can marry and divorce as  many times as I want, in any state. I can adopt, I can stay in the hospital with my husband. I get all the tax breaks acredited to a married couple. Why is it such an aberration to some to allow everyone these rights?

It's time to make this issue another page in the history books.