Homophobia

Whether you like homosexual or not, you should still re-post this to support your firneds and loved ones who are.

Love is not defined by color, creed, or gender.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another women.

I am the boy who never finished highschool because I got called a fag everyday.

I am the girl who got kicked out of her home because I confided i my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working on the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual women.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long bfore her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of 27 years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had.

I wish they could adopt me.

I am not one of the lucky ones.

I killed myself just weeks before graduating highschool. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had their realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who nevr knows which bathroom I should use to avoid getting management called on me.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who felt the support system grow suddenly very cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a women.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other males.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the women who died when the EMT's stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think that I would be a much better person if I didn't have to deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped going to church, not because I didn't beleive, but because they stopped opening their doors to my kind.

I am a warrior, serving my country proud, but can't be my true self because gays aren't allowed in the military.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the daughter of Catholic parents who is afraid to tell them who I am because of fear that they won't love me anymore.

I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends I'm a lesbian because they constantly make fun of them.

I am the boy, tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp, and left to die because two straight men wanted to "teach me a lesson."

This is the boy, Matthew Shepard.

On October 7, 1998, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson lead him to a remote area, east of Lamarie where they demonstrated unimaginable acts of hate.

Matthew was tied to a split rail fence where he was left to die in the cold of the night.

Almost 18 hours later, he was found by a cyclist who had initialy mistook him for a scarecrow. Matthew died on October 12, at 12:53 AM at a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.

KILLED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS GAY.

IF YOU BELEIVE THAT HOMOPHOBIA IS WRONG, RE-POST THIS AS "HOMOPHOBIA".

Matthew Shepard : An Angel

Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and subsequently murdered near Laramie, Wyoming. He was attacked on the night of October 6–7, 1998 and died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12, from severe head injuries.
During the trial, witnesses stated that Shepard was targeted because he was gay. His murder brought national as well as international attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.[1]
Russell Arthur Henderson pleaded guilty to felony murder and kidnapping, allowing him to avoid the death penalty. Aaron James McKinney was convicted of felony murder and kidnapping. Henderson is currently serving two consecutive life sentences and McKinney is serving the same but without the possibility of parole.[2]



[edit] Background
Matthew Shepard, oldest son of Dennis Shepard and Judy Shepard, was born in Casper, Wyoming on December 1, 1976. He attended Crest Hill Elementary School, Dean Morgan Junior High, and the first two years of high school at Natrona County High School. He was a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Shepard spent his junior and senior years of high school at The American School In Switzerland. After graduating in 1995, he attended Catawba College and Casper College before he relocated to Denver. Shepard then became a first-year political science major at the University of Wyoming and was chosen as the student representative for the Wyoming Environmental Council.[1]
He was described by his parents as "...an optimistic and accepting young man [who] had a special gift of relating to almost everyone. He was the type of person who was very approachable and always looked to new challenges. Matthew had a great passion for equality and always stood up for the acceptance of people's differences."[1]
However, Shepard faced his own inner battle. During a high school trip to Morocco he was beaten and raped, causing him to withdraw and experience bouts of depression and panic attacks, according to his mother Judy Shepard. One of Shepard's friends feared his depression caused him to become involved in the local drug scene during his time in college.[3]

[edit] The attack

Shepard's murderers, Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, awaiting testimony in court (1998)
Shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, 21-year-old Shepard met McKinney and Henderson in a bar. McKinney and Henderson offered Shepard a ride in their car.[4] Subsequently, Shepard was robbed, pistol whipped, tortured, tied to a fence in a remote, rural area, and left to die. McKinney and Henderson also found out his address and intended to rob his home. Still tied to the fence, Shepard was discovered eighteen hours later by Aaron Kreifels, who at first thought that Shepard was a scarecrow. At the time of discovery, Shepard was still alive, but in a coma.
Shepard suffered a fracture from the back of his head to the front of his right ear. He had severe brain stem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. As he lay in intensive care, candlelight vigils were held by the people of Laramie.[5]
He was pronounced dead at 12:53 A.M. on October 12, 1998 at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.[6][7][8][9] Police arrested McKinney and Henderson shortly thereafter, finding the bloody gun as well as the victim's shoes and wallet in their truck.[3]
The two men had attempted to get their girlfriends to provide alibis.[10]

[edit] The trial
In court the defendants used varying rationales to defend their actions. They attempted to use the "gay panic defense", arguing that they were driven to temporary insanity by alleged sexual advances by Shepard. At another point they stated that they had only wanted to rob Shepard and never intended to kill him.[3]
The prosecutor in the case charged that McKinney and Henderson pretended to be gay in order to gain Shepard's trust to rob him.[11] During the trial, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price (the pair's then-girlfriends) testified under oath that Henderson and McKinney both plotted beforehand to rob a gay man. McKinney and Henderson then went to the Fireside Lounge and selected Shepard as their target. McKinney alleged that Shepard asked them for a ride home. After befriending him, they took him to a remote area of Laramie where they robbed him, beat him severely, and tied him to a fence with a rope from McKinney's truck while Shepard begged for his life. Media reports often contained the graphic account of the pistol whipping and his smashed skull. It was reported that Shepard was beaten so brutally that his face was covered in blood, except where it had been partially washed clean by his tears.[12][13] Both girlfriends also testified that neither McKinney nor Henderson was under the influence of drugs at the time.[14][15]
Henderson pleaded guilty on April 5, 1999, and agreed to testify against McKinney to avoid the death penalty; he received two consecutive life sentences. The jury in McKinney's trial found him guilty of felony murder. As it began to deliberate on the death penalty, Shepard's parents brokered a deal, resulting in McKinney receiving two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.[2]
Henderson and McKinney were incarcerated in the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins but were transferred to other prisons due to overcrowding.[16]

[edit] ABC's 20/20 report
In late 2004, ABC's Elizabeth Vargas reported on an investigation into the murder for the television program 20/20. Though Vargas primarily relied on personal interviews with people involved with the matter, the report was billed as exploring "New Details Emerging in the Matthew Shepard Murder."[3] At the forefront was the possibility that the murder had in fact been motivated by drugs rather than Shepard's sexual orientation. McKinney, Henderson and Kristen Price (McKinney's girlfriend) claimed in these interviews that the attack was a result of heavy drug use, a robbery and a beating gone awry.[3] Price, in her interview with Vargas, ultimately openly remarked: "I do not think it was a hate crime at all. I never did."[3] This statement contradicted Price's first interview with 20/20 in 1998, in which she said (of McKinney and Henderson's attack): "They just wanted to beat him bad enough to teach him a lesson, not to come on to straight people, and don’t be aggressive about it anymore.”[17] In the report, Price and McKinney's long-time friend Tom O'Connor, on whose property McKinney and Price once lived, both stated their belief that McKinney was bisexual. O'Connor stated that he and McKinney had sex in the past. However, when Vargas asked McKinney whether he had ever had a sexual experience with another male, he said that he had not.[3]
The 20/20 report also mentioned a statement by O'Connor that Shepard told him he was HIV-positive.[3]
Retired Police Chief of Laramie, Commander Dave O'Malley — who was also interviewed by ABC and criticized the 20/20 report — pointed out that the drug motive does not necessarily disqualify the anti-gay motive: "My feelings have been that the initial contact was probably motivated by robbery because they needed money. What they got was $20 and a pair of shoes ... then something changed and changed profoundly... But, we will never, ever know because Matt’s dead and I don’t trust what [McKinney and Henderson] said."[18]

[edit] Hate crime legislation
Henderson and McKinney were not charged with a hate crime, as no Wyoming criminal statute provided for such a charge. The nature of Matthew Shepard's murder led to requests for new legislation addressing hate crime, urged particularly by those who believed that Shepard was targeted on the basis of his sexual orientation.[19][20] Under current United States federal law[21] and Wyoming state law,[22] crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation are not prosecutable as hate crimes.
In the following session of the Wyoming Legislature, a bill was introduced defining certain attacks motivated by victim identity as hate crimes, but the measure failed on a 30-30 tie in the Wyoming House of Representatives.[23]
At the federal level, then-President Bill Clinton renewed attempts to extend federal hate crime legislation to include gay and lesbian individuals, women, and people with disabilities. These efforts were rejected by the United States House of Representatives in 1999.[24] In 2000, both houses of Congress passed such legislation, but it was stripped out in conference committee.[25]
On March 20, 2007, the Matthew Shepard Act (H.R. 1592) was introduced as federal bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress, sponsored by Democrat John Conyers with 171 co-sponsors. Matthew's parents, Judy and Dennis, were present at the introduction ceremony. The bill passed the House of Representatives on May 3, 2007. Similar legislation passed in the Senate on September 27, 2007[26] (S. 1105), but President Bush indicated he might veto the legislation if it reached his desk.[27] He did veto the bill in 2007.
On December 10, 2007, congressional powers attached bipartisan hate crimes legislation to a Department of Defense Authorization bill, though failed to get it passed. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, said she "is still committed to getting the Matthew Shepard Act passed." Pelosi planned to get the bill passed early in 2008[28] though did not succeed in that plan. Following his election as 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama stated that he is committed to passing the Act.[29]
The U.S. House of Representatives debated expansion of hate crimes legislation on April 29, 2009. During the debate, Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina called the "hate crime" labeling of Matthew Shepherd's murder a "hoax." Matthew Shepard's mother was said to be in the House gallery when the congresswoman made this comment.[30] Foxx later called her comments "a poor choice of words". [31] The House passed the act, designated H.R. 1913, by a vote of 249 to 175.[32] The bill was introduced in the Senate on April 28.[33]

[edit] Public reaction and the aftermath
See also: Cultural depictions of Matthew Shepard
The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, led by Fred Phelps, picketed Shepard's funeral as well as the trial of his assailants,[34][35] displaying signs with slogans such as "Matt Shepard rots in Hell", "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" and "God Hates Fags".[36] When the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that it was legal to display any sort of religious message on city property if it was legal for Casper's Ten Commandments display to remain, Phelps attempted and failed to gain city permits in Cheyenne and Casper to build a monument "of marble or granite 5 or 6 feet (1.8 m) in height on which will be a bronze plaque bearing Shepard's picture and the words: "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22."[37][38][39][40]
As a counterprotest during Henderson's trial, Romaine Patterson, a friend of Shepard's, organized a group of individuals who assembled in a circle around the Phelps group wearing white robes and gigantic wings (resembling angels) that blocked the protesters. Police had to create a human barrier between the two protest groups.[41] While the organization had no name in the initial demonstration, it has since been ascribed various titles, including 'Angels of Peace' and 'Angel Action'.[34][35] The fence to which Shepard was tied and left to die became an impromptu shrine for visitors, who left notes, flowers, and other mementos. It has since been removed by the land owner.
Many musicians, including Melissa Etheridge, Tori Amos, Elton John and Janis Ian, and the bands Trivium, Thursday, and Protest the Hero, have written and recorded songs about the murder. Three narrative films and a documentary were made about Shepard: The Laramie Project, The Matthew Shepard Story, Anatomy of a Hate Crime and Laramie Inside Out. The Laramie Project is also often performed as a play. The play involves recounts of interviews with citizens of the town of Laramie ranging from a few months after the attack to a few years after. The play is designed to display the town's reaction to the crime.[42][43]
In the years following Shepard's death, his mother Judy has become a well-known advocate for LGBT rights, particularly issues relating to gay youth. She is a prime force behind the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which supports diversity and tolerance in youth organizations.

Adam Lambert!! <3

Adam Lambert is The Sexiest Man in the World...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Been Gone For So Long

I haven't blogged in quite a while, I've been busy with my friends and my boyfriend, and trying to adjust to life without my mammaw, Courtlin and eyeliner. I feel happier, despite my losses, the world has finaly given me peace. My iPod has been introduced to a whole new genre of music, my clothes have taken on a whole new style and my face has taken on a whole new look, a smile. Everthing is so different , yet, it all feels so famliar, like I had lost these feelings long ago and they've come drifting back to me. Courtlin and I still speak to each other every once in a while, except when I call her I have to say I'm a different person because she doesn't want me to talk to her daughter (because she found out we dated). The school doesn't miss me, Im glad. I decided not to finish my XxPlague LovexX series, I got bored with it. This is all Im gonna say for now, Im gonna blog every Saturday from now on.

Mammaw, So Long and Good night...

She died, October 31, 2008, she took her last breath at around 10:10 AM or so, I knew it was gonna happen, but the news hit me hard. I came home from school, and my mom was laying on the couch, holding back tears. I asked "What's wrong, mom?" She looked up at me with sad eyes and said "Mammaw is gone." I heard what she said, but it sounded so distant, all I could hear was my heartbeat, was she realy gone? I stood there for at least ten minutes, staring blankly across the room at the wall, so many thoughts filled my head, it hurt. The women who raised me, took me to church every Sunday before I quit going all together, the women I never respected as much as I should have to save my life, and maybe hers. Things were finay starting to get good, I started my new school, moved into a new house, my family seemed happier, made a new best friend, and then it all seemed to be swirling around in my head, then disappearing the more distant they fell. So long and Goodnight, Dear God, take care of this women, she was the closest thing earth had to an angel, and now that she is one, she deserves rest, peace, and unconditional love more than anybody else. So Long and Goodnight.

XxPlague LovexX (Avenged Sevenfold Fanfic Chapter One

XxPlague LovexX
I awoke with a yawn and stretched my tired arms. My head was throbbing . I got up and stepped over the guys who were passed out on the floor surrounded by beer bottles and drowing in the stench of alchohol. I went to the kitchen and got a Tylenol and took it. I smelt horribly of alchohol. I went back into the bedroom and grabbed my Misfits T-shirt and some black skinny jeans and hit the shower. When I walked back into the bedroom, Brian had woken up and was sitting on the bed rubbing his temples. He looked up at me and said "Good morning, kind of anyway." He laughed at himself and got up to shower himself. The rest of the guys had gotten up and helped me clean the place back up, then took themselves a shower. Brian came out of the bathroom in some old jeans with holes in the knees, his shirtless body no longer smelt of beer, he now smet more like strawberries, it made me smile as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead.
"What did we do last night?" I aksed kissing him back.
"Well, if Im not mistaking, we all got extremely drunk, you and I had some amazing sex, and then we all passed out in the bedroom."
"How do you know we had sex?" I asked, giggling at his words.
"Because Im in such a good mood, what else could we have done to make me this happy?" he laughed and suggested that we all take a ride, get out of the house for awhile. The house was'nt that big, it's amazing that all of uscan live in it together. There was Me, Brian, Jimmy, Johnny, Matt, Zacky and Jane. There were 4 bedrooms, Zacky and Johnny shared one, Matt had taken his own for himself, Jimmy and Jane shared one, and Brian and I share one.
After everyone had gotten showered and we all smelt like strawberries, we all went out for a drive with no particular destination, it's actualy been a while since we had an important place to go. We all ran away from home two years ago, Jimmy had met Jane on her roof by her bedroom window at her parents house, they came and picked Matt up at his place, then got Johnny and Zacky as they waited at the community park, then Brian and I were picked up at his place. We did'nt know why we had to do this, it just felt right.

In to the Ocean

I have three things in life I love more than anything, One of those is the ocean. It is just so beautiful, especialy when it rain and it's dark outside, making the sky gray and the ocean a deep blue or black. I went to Myrtle Beach with my family recently, we stayed at a hotel that had a balcony that viewed the ocean, the whole time I was either up there, or walking on the beach at night or when it rained. It inspires alot of the art I do, and even though it sounds sad and depressing, it makes me happy. The way you can look out as for as you can and never see the end of it. At night, it loks like he sky and the ocean meet and become one. It's beautiful. I believe that when a person dies, they go somewhere else before they go to heaven. I believe that they go somewhere where they can find true peace, they go to their favorite place. Myne is the ocean. When I die, I want to sink down in the ocean, a dark, deep blue ocean, while listening to my favorite song through the sound of water (the sound that you hear when you go under water). I want to die with Courtlin, I want to be holding hands with her as we drift deeper and deeper into the ocean of our dreams. I want to go into the ocean.