On March 2, Tina Stewart was found fatally stabbed in her apartment at Middle Tennessee State University. Tina was so full of life, and she would have had an incredible future. She played basketball and excelled academically. She loved her family, her God, and her friends.
I was never especially close to Tina. I went to school with Tina for a little while, and we always spoke to each other in passing. That means I also went to school with the woman who has been charged with her murder, and I knew her on about the same level. Because of this, the situation hit very close to home for me - a little too close. I have realized that this could have happened to me or to any one of my friends. It could have happened to ANYONE.
Tina's death has recently reminded me just how short life is, and it has shown me that I need to live mine a little differently.
Life is extremely precious, and it should be treasured. I am blessed with the opportunity to be creating positive change right now. I've made the decision to get more involved in my community, and I have taken the beginning steps to make that happen.
Some people are blessed with a hundred years on this earth. Others are gone before they cry for the first time. I've come to see that the length of your life is not important. It's what you do with it that counts - the impact you have on the people around you.
Everyone leaves something behind, and Tina is a wonderful example of how to leave something beautiful. She might be gone from this world, but she is still impacting the lives of others.
I hope knowing Tina will always be remembered, loved, and appreciated for the way she lived her life will be of some comfort to her family. God bless them all.
The Stewart family is traveling back and forth quite a bit for all of the court hearings, and, as I'm sure you can imagine, doing so is not cheap. No one can take away the pain of losing a child or sister, but we can help ease the financial burden for this family. Please consider making a donation to a fund set up for them at Regions Bank. Go to any Regions Bank location and let them know you'd like to donate to the "In Loving Memory of Tina Stewart" fund.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Criminalization of Islam in America: What's Really Happening
On September 11, 2010, I had the opportunity to be present at a local mosque during the time of praying that marks the Eid al-Fitr holiday. (Yes, I most certainly went to a mosque on 09/11.) Afterward, leaders in the Muslim community answered any questions non-Muslims wanted to ask them. It probably took a lot of faith to invite non-Muslims into their mosque on such an important Islamic holiday, not knowing what could potentially happen. Let me just tell you - it was SO beautiful. I saw passion and dedication. I saw a group of people who just wanted to clear the air and be absolutely sure there was correct information getting out into the public about their religion. With so much hatred being directed at those who practice Islam, I can see why it must have been important for them to do it.
The push to criminalize Islam in America is an important issue to me partly for the same reason it should be to everyone - it goes against the First Amendment of the Constitution.
First Amendment:
The Supreme Court (SC) decided this was a good enough reason to protect the right to protest at military funerals (ie: half of the "good work" members at Westboro Baptist Church do). Protesting at funerals is, more than likely, disturbing the peace - not peacefully assembling. The First Amendment does not directly lay down instructions for this, so the SC had to interpret the law.
The FA does, however, lay down specific instruction about religion. It's all in that tiny bit that talks about Congress making no law against an establishment of religion or making a law against practicing any religion. So then how is it feasible to ban Islam?
It's not a stretch to say the legislation currently being pushed is led by the religious right, which only consists of people masquerading as Christians. They get away with it by portraying themselves as holy and everyone else as less-than.
Earlier I said the new bills that are intended to ban Islam bothered me partly because of their inability to gel with the Constitution. The other reason? There are Muslims whom I love dearly. It's just not right to demonize them for what a small group of people masquerading as Muslims did over 10 years ago. (Wait, wait! Did anyone else notice I mentioned TWO groups of people masquerading as members of a religion?)
I'm tired of fake people (see "religious right") ruining our country to make themselves look better. Talk about the Devil being alive and thriving!
American Muslims did nothing to you. Stop the demonization of innocent people!
Rant over.
The push to criminalize Islam in America is an important issue to me partly for the same reason it should be to everyone - it goes against the First Amendment of the Constitution.
First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The Supreme Court (SC) decided this was a good enough reason to protect the right to protest at military funerals (ie: half of the "good work" members at Westboro Baptist Church do). Protesting at funerals is, more than likely, disturbing the peace - not peacefully assembling. The First Amendment does not directly lay down instructions for this, so the SC had to interpret the law.
The FA does, however, lay down specific instruction about religion. It's all in that tiny bit that talks about Congress making no law against an establishment of religion or making a law against practicing any religion. So then how is it feasible to ban Islam?
It's not a stretch to say the legislation currently being pushed is led by the religious right, which only consists of people masquerading as Christians. They get away with it by portraying themselves as holy and everyone else as less-than.
Earlier I said the new bills that are intended to ban Islam bothered me partly because of their inability to gel with the Constitution. The other reason? There are Muslims whom I love dearly. It's just not right to demonize them for what a small group of people masquerading as Muslims did over 10 years ago. (Wait, wait! Did anyone else notice I mentioned TWO groups of people masquerading as members of a religion?)
I'm tired of fake people (see "religious right") ruining our country to make themselves look better. Talk about the Devil being alive and thriving!
American Muslims did nothing to you. Stop the demonization of innocent people!
Rant over.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
My MGLCC Story
During the past 2.5 years, I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the most wonderful people I have ever encountered in my life. Most (certainly not all) of them are friends I made through some type of connection to the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.
The first day I went to MGLCC, I was a nervous 16 year old who had no idea what my sexuality was. All I knew was I felt like I needed to seek out people who had positive feelings toward LGBT people. (Since then, I've come into my sexuality, and I'm VERY proud to be a straight ally. Nowadays, I have so many gay friends that I sometimes forget that I'm straight.)
It was a cloudy mid-September day. The moment I walked into the building, I felt this weird sense, and it occurred to me that even though I had never been to this place before, I felt so at home there. I met three people I will always love - Will "Ouiser" Batts, Autumn "Mama"/"Audy" Falconer, and THE Rohbi. I don't remember much else about that day, other than leaving with a smile on my face and a lot of relief. I knew from that moment there were people who would always care, regardless of whatever I ended up discovering about myself. I felt comfortable to continue growing into myself as a person.
I dove into things head first that year - youth nights, rallies, encouraging people to vote for equality, vigils for those killed in hate crimes, etc. I just started meeting all of these incredible people. I had friends coming out of my ears - wonderful, fabulous friends.
Along the way from that first day until now, I've slowly picked up an entire chosen family. The ones I didn't meet at MGLCC/through MGLCC/through someone I knew from MGLCC I most likely only met because of the influence MGLCC had on my life.
Looking back on the creation of this family makes me a little emotional, because I never could have imagined having this whole family of crazy, loving, dramatic, supportive, sweet, beautiful people in my life when I was walking up the steps at MGLCC the first time. Now I can't imagine my life without every single one of them in it.
Life is challenging, and I've been going through a lot during the past several months. However, I haven't forgotten how blessed I am to have this amazing group of friends. They've been with me through the best of times and the worst of times.
MGLCC saves lives every day. I'm still convinced they saved mine. Without them, I'd most likely be so deep into a depression that nothing could ever pull me out. I hope everyone will consider donating to MGLCC - every time you donate, you're saving a life. Go to mglcc.org to donate or find out more information about Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.
Feel free to post a link to this anywhere you'd like, if you would like to share it with friends.
If anyone homophobic is reading this, let me make a few things CRYSTAL clear...
1) I don't care what hateful comments you have - keep that shxt to yourself.
2) Before you even TRY to start some mess - no one at MGLCC ever told me what to think. I formed my own opinions.
3) You mess with my friends, you mess with me. DON'T test me.
The first day I went to MGLCC, I was a nervous 16 year old who had no idea what my sexuality was. All I knew was I felt like I needed to seek out people who had positive feelings toward LGBT people. (Since then, I've come into my sexuality, and I'm VERY proud to be a straight ally. Nowadays, I have so many gay friends that I sometimes forget that I'm straight.)
It was a cloudy mid-September day. The moment I walked into the building, I felt this weird sense, and it occurred to me that even though I had never been to this place before, I felt so at home there. I met three people I will always love - Will "Ouiser" Batts, Autumn "Mama"/"Audy" Falconer, and THE Rohbi. I don't remember much else about that day, other than leaving with a smile on my face and a lot of relief. I knew from that moment there were people who would always care, regardless of whatever I ended up discovering about myself. I felt comfortable to continue growing into myself as a person.
I dove into things head first that year - youth nights, rallies, encouraging people to vote for equality, vigils for those killed in hate crimes, etc. I just started meeting all of these incredible people. I had friends coming out of my ears - wonderful, fabulous friends.
Along the way from that first day until now, I've slowly picked up an entire chosen family. The ones I didn't meet at MGLCC/through MGLCC/through someone I knew from MGLCC I most likely only met because of the influence MGLCC had on my life.
Looking back on the creation of this family makes me a little emotional, because I never could have imagined having this whole family of crazy, loving, dramatic, supportive, sweet, beautiful people in my life when I was walking up the steps at MGLCC the first time. Now I can't imagine my life without every single one of them in it.
Life is challenging, and I've been going through a lot during the past several months. However, I haven't forgotten how blessed I am to have this amazing group of friends. They've been with me through the best of times and the worst of times.
MGLCC saves lives every day. I'm still convinced they saved mine. Without them, I'd most likely be so deep into a depression that nothing could ever pull me out. I hope everyone will consider donating to MGLCC - every time you donate, you're saving a life. Go to mglcc.org to donate or find out more information about Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center.
Feel free to post a link to this anywhere you'd like, if you would like to share it with friends.
If anyone homophobic is reading this, let me make a few things CRYSTAL clear...
1) I don't care what hateful comments you have - keep that shxt to yourself.
2) Before you even TRY to start some mess - no one at MGLCC ever told me what to think. I formed my own opinions.
3) You mess with my friends, you mess with me. DON'T test me.
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