Rainbow Pride

Today is the last day of LGBT Pride month here in the United States. I wanted to write about what pride means. I have written so much describing it already however. So I will keep it simple.

Pride is love. Love yourself, love others, and love being LGBT. It is nothing more or nothing less. Just love. For that is pride.



Love is Never Wrong

Links of Love International: Gay Asia

Today I have some links for my international viewers. Some of these may be duplicates of ones I have posted in the past. Hopefully not to many. I do have language barriers with many of these sites so please do self verification on them.

Buddy is a LGBT Magazine. (Korea)

http://buddy79.com/

Chingusai is a Gay men's organization. (Korea)

http://chingusai.net/

Korean Queer Culture Festival is a social event with many activities and resources. The site is available in English and Korean. Chinese is also available beyond the main page. (Korea)

http://www.kqcf.org/

Korean Sexual-Minority Culture & Rights Center  (Korea)

http://kscrc.org/

Lesbian Radio  (Korea)

http://cafe.daum.net/lezpa

Rainbow Teen (RATEEN) is a youth focused group. (Korea)

http://cafe.daum.net/Rateen

Taiwan Pride is a social and support festival with many activities and resources. (Taiwan)

http://twpride.net/

Smile for Gay  (China)

http://www.smile4gay.org/cn/

Civil Rights for Sexual Diversities is a advocacy and support group in Hong Kong. The site is in English and Chinese. (China)

http://neptune.lunarpages.com/~active2/cr4sd/production/eng/main/index.html

Transgender Equality and Acceptance Movement (TEAM) is an advocacy and support group in Hong Kong The site is in English and Chinese(China)

http://www.teamhk.org/

Chi Heng Foundation is a AIDS advocacy and support organization. (China)

http://www.chihengfoundation.com/index_en.html

Blue Diamond Society is a advocacy and support organization. (Nepal)

http://bds.org.np/

Cambodian Center for Human Rights is not LGBT specific. It is however a source. (Cambodia)

http://www.cchrcambodia.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cambodian-Center-for-Human-Rights-CCHR/206984670430?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/#!/cchrcambodia

http://www.youtube.com/user/cchrcambodia

Gaya Nusantara is an advocacy, support, and educational organization. (Indonesia)

http://www.gayanusantara.or.id/

Aus Prelangi is an advocacy, support, and educational organization. (Indonesia)

http://aruspelangi.pbworks.com/w/page/9723216/FrontPage

Pink Triangle Foundation is a multifaceted group. They cover advocacy, education, health, support and much more. (Malaysia)

http://www.ptfmalaysia.org/index.php

http://www.facebook.com/pages/PT-Foundation/345959786892?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/#!/PTfoundation

http://www.ptfoundation.blogspot.com/

Pink Dot is a pride festival with many activities and resources. (Singapore)

http://pinkdot.sg/

http://www.youtube.com/user/pinkdotsg

The University of the Philippines has Babaylan. It is a support, education, and advocacy group. (Philippines)

http://upbabaylan.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/upbabaylan

http://twitter.com/#!/upbabaylan




Love is Never Wrong

Humanity

I have great hopes for us as the Human race. We are capable of so much and such beauty. We can achieve miracles and accomplish so much in such short times. We are not perfect but our struggle is perfection.

When we stop and realize that others are just like us; they hurt, they feel, they love, then they are Human. In our race to preserve our values or beliefs we tend to overlook whats most important, people. We are all Human and we only have each other. Life is too short to argue and fight.

Don't march to anyone's drum but your own. You are your own leader. Share a belief but make it your own and make sure you know it. Never let it hurt another. Have values but value others, even if you disagree. Understand our journey is about each others differences and experiences in life. Treasure diversity even if it is not your path.

We are all a family on this celestial sphere we call home. We may bicker and disagree but we are one people sharing a multitude of experiences and journeys through life. Respect our differences, choices, even failures. Because that is life.  We can be no one else and no one else can be us. At best we can advise and try to help each other along.

Take the time, invest in each other, and share your journey. Because we are all a member of Humanity.

So I end this today with an ancient principle of wisdom from our forefathers. The Golden Rule or Golden Law:  Treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.



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AGayCollab

I have never been one to follow collaboration sites on YouTube. Simply they are usually not consistent or very good. This week I was lured to one named AGayCollab. It shows a lot of promise.

Dan or ExplorationB is quite charming and full of wit. Blair of DirBlair has not struck me as standing out yet but his interests could change that. Paul or GayComicGeek is handsome and interesting. I look forward to what he may add. Josh or JoshRimer is a comedian with a naughty twist. Finally Bryan of Depfox, the reason I took a look, is by far my favorite. He was funny and delightfully uplifting.

I look forward to seeing how the site progress' hopefully they touch you as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AGayCollab#p/u/0/plWc7DIxyQU



Love is Never Wrong

Universal Human Rights

This morning I am pleased to read a story from the Towleroad news blog. The United Nations for the first time has made a declaration that condemns discrimination and violence against LGBT people around the world. It also lays out the formation of a panel to review and track such incidents.

I may not have always had my blog, but in life I have long advocated for Universal Human Rights. All people deserve respect, dignity, and the freedom to live their life as anyone else. I am glad today others now share my hopes. Please make a difference.

Speak and tell your stories. Relay all that has been waged against you and those like you. Share the struggles of trying to be equal. The UN is now listening, help them understand. Only with knowledge of such acts can people be made aware.

Here is the link to the original story.

http://www.towleroad.com/2011/06/breaking-un-human-rights-body-passes-historic-resolution-in-support-of-lgbt-rights-anti-discriminati.html



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Pride

Here in the United States it is LGBT Pride month. So many of us struggle so long with pride, in ourselves and those in our community. We seem to have to fight to just be us. A luxury many who are not LGBT take for granted. Even when we find our colors it is still a process of ever brightening them and showing them to the world.

So my suggestion is decorate yourself vividly, dance wildly, stand and watch with amazement, or just be whoever you are. In the end Pride is about being comfortable with you and the others in your community. It does not matter how you celebrate it matters that you do celebrate. Because respect and dignity should begin in yourself.

Here are some visions of Pride around the world. Hopefully under one of those rainbows you find the gold that is you. You are a treasure and the world should view its wonders. Happy Pride!

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Faith: Islam

In my continuing efforts to find LGBT friendly views and places of faith I take today to add some sources for Islam. Some of these may not be specifically faith based but they may be able to help direct you to proper sources. As with all links I can not verify more than what I see so always proceed with caution.

Salaam represents the Queer Muslim community of Toronto, Canada. (Canada)

http://www.salaamcanada.org/intro.html

Helem supports the LGBT community of Lebanon. (Lebanon)

http://www.helem.net/

MEEM supports Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer and questioning women and Transgender persons in Lebanon. (Lebanon)

http://meemgroup.org/news/

PT Foundation supports the LGBT community of Malaysia. (Malaysia)

http://www.ptfmalaysia.org/index.php

Al-Qaws supports the LGBT community of Palestine.

http://www.alqaws.org/q/

The Inner Circle supports LGBT Muslims in South Africa. (South Africa)

http://www.theinnercircle.org.za/

Imaan supports the LGBTQI community of the United Kingdom. (United Kingdom)

http://www.imaan.org.uk/

Al-Fatiha is LGBT friendly and serves the United States.

http://www.al-fatiha.org/



Love is Never Wrong

Learning To Be Free

One of the greatest and lifelong lessons we as Humans strive to learn is learning to be free. Such a simple thing that so many of us seem to stumble over in life. It is one of those universal Human traits.

When we are young we learn to be free of our parents and adults. We learn to feed and clothe ourselves. We begin to learn skills and make friends. We begin to learn basic independence.

As we enter our teenage years we learn to be free of our families. We gravitate to our friends more, begin thinking of what we may do in life, and even further learn the basics we began in childhood.

By the time we are thrust into adulthood we we learn skills of jobs, life, even relationships. Some see this as the most free time of life. But basically we learn to work with others and start to create our own life, to be free as individuals.

Entering into middle age we strive to be free of the demands of others. For many, in our adult years, we succumb to the will of others and lose our own path. So in this time we strive to reclaim what we have given up.

In our older years we are mostly comfortable with ourselves and seek to be free of the complications of life. We have learned many lessons and now seek the most simple way to express our freedoms.

All of these are powerful lessons to learn in life but they are only a few. We as LGBT have many more to learn than the average person. We must learn to be free to be who we are, express ourselves, to even live. We learn to let go of the limitations demanded by others, we must be free to love ourselves and the beauty that we are. We must learn the freedom to love.

My list can go on but many of us already know our obstacles. What I want to say is be free. It's that simple. There is always someone out there who will love you. There is always someone who will care. There is always someplace where you can be open about your true self. And most importantly there is always another view of what is presented to you.

Just be free. Be you and live happily. Freedom starts from within. Only you can ignite its flame.



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Faith

So far I have avoided links of faith. There has been no desire expressed for them and I was unsure how to best address the subject. So many of us have been hurt by spiritual leaders and the misconception of religious text. I would like to begin adding some different views on familiar things.

Today I shall start with a very nice YouTube site RiziGospel. Rizi is an LGBT minister that contacted me a while back to add her as a friend on YouTube. Listening to her videos I for one for the first times in my life found someone who shared many similar views. If you are interested in an LGBT view of the Bible please check some of her videos out.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RIZIGOSPEL

Love is Never Wrong