Pedophilia is not something to joke about

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Image from CBSNews.com - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20043871-504083.html

I know that pedophilia is not a new issue, it has been happening probably since the dawn of time, but it has always been something that has been hidden in the shadows because people know it’s wrong.  Nobody proudly says they molest children out of fear of getting arrested.  To me it is not something that I want to A) hear about and B) see people joking about.  It’s not funny.

As I was going about my day of the usual scrolling on the Facebook home page to look at who is posting what, I came across one post from a page called “United Against RIP Trolls and Cyberbullies” asking people to report a page called “Damon the pedophile canadian.”  Without hesitation I clicked the page and read the page description and looked through some of the posts.  The description says it’s comedy and that the page owner is not a real pedophile, but I honestly don’t see anything funny about that.  I was not amused.

Naturally I wanted to report the page.  I clicked the option “I just don’t like it” and it gave me the opportunity to message the admin to ask them to remove the page.  Of course I misunderstood that and checked it and typed out a little message.  I didn’t read where it said I was messaging them, I just (again without hesitation) clicked the check box and hit continue.  Within a minute, literally a minute lol, I got a message back from the page.  Here is the email.

I wasn’t expecting to get a response because I thought I was typing that to the Facebook admin, but in a way I am glad that the email got sent to him (assuming the page owner is a male)  and that he knew that someone out there was unhappy about his page.

I didn’t go into any detail about what happened to me in that regard, but I shouldn’t have to.  All he needs to know is that his page is upsetting to people like me.  Although, I was never actually molested, it was an attempt that I managed to escape.  I wrote about it in my book in Chapter 18 “Why is everyone doing drugs?”

This is what happened to me.  It was my mothers so-called “best friend” who was a prostitute in the 1960’s and 70’s.  We had moved into her and her husbands house in 1986 near the end of the school year temporarily because we had nowhere else to go.  I went to the kitchen to get a glass of tea and she grabbed me by the crotch and she held onto my balls with a tight grip for at least 5 minutes straight before taking me to the couch and face raping me.  She was trying to take off my clothes and that was when I started thinking “have a seizure, have a seizure, for god sake, HAVE A SEIZURE!”  I managed to fake one and she put me to bed and then she went to her bed, and I could hear her crying.  I was crying too, but she didn’t hear me.

I had grand mal and petit mal seizures as a baby and during most of my childhood and I was having them more during the school year of 1985/86.  I was in special ed and had seen other people having seizures, so I knew what to do.  I was 15 years old at the time, but I was still a child.

Facebook really needs to clean house.  They are allowing people to make pages without needing approval based on the page name and description.  Anyone could make a page about anything for any reason and nobody checks to make sure they are being good.  It’s all up to us, the community, to keep these pages in line by reporting them to Facebook.

As a page owner, I have to adhere to a strict criteria.  I abide by all of the rules and regulations (that I know about), but I also try to abide by common sense, and that means to be a good little boy.  Although, as an atheist, I have posted images that are anti-religion, but only because they are exposing how anti-gay certain religious people are.  But even if I were a Christian, I would still post those to let people see how anti-gay people are in the religion.  It’s basically standing up for myself and my community.  What that guy is doing is he is making fun of people who are or were molested as children and it’s not right and we, as in people with common sense, shouldn’t have to put up with those kinds of pages clogging up the Facebook hard drives when there could be more positive role models clogging up their hard drives.

Look, this world is dark enough as it is with all the bullying, senseless suicides of our gay children who were bullied, school and movie theater shootings and with people murdering their families or children (tot mom – allegedly).  We need to stop being so negative as a society and start being positive role models.  There needs to be more accountability and positivity coming out of the internet inspiring people to be good, instead of inspiring them to commit crimes.

Sorry for rambling.  This was my 2 cents lol.  Stepping off my soapbox now.

Please follow United Against RIP Trolls and Cyberbullies on Facebook so you can start seeing their posts to report people.  There are many more pages that tell people to report pages and when I see them, I usually share the post on my facebook page and ask people to report them as well.

Image Credit: CBSNews.com

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Anti-Gay/Anti-Religious Bigotry on Facebook

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Photo taken from Facebook page “I bet this turkey can get more fans than NOM”

I have been asked a lot lately from Christians why I post so many anti-religious images on Facebook, not just my book page, but also my own personal Facebook page.  The answer is not that I am anti-religion, it’s that I am fighting in a war brought on by right-wing fundamentalist born again Christians who are trying to take away my and every other gay persons rights across the country and even the world.

Just about every day I browse the Facebook “Home” page and see images from such pages as “I bet this turkey can get more fans than NOM“, “Have a Gay Day” and “Wipe out homophobia” just to name a few.  I see pictures of the fundamentalists like the famous Westboro Baptist Church with signs that say “God Hates Fags” among other hateful things.  Then I see pro-gay images like this:

So when people see me posting images like this, they think that I am an anti-religious bigot.  I have been hearing homophobic bible scriptures since I was a teenager, such as Leviticus 18:22 saying “‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”  But what they don’t realize is that this was written by a person, not by God.  Whoever wrote that was obviously homophobic.  I believe that if God does exist, he made gay people for a reason.  We aren’t flaws or mistakes and we didn’t choose to be gay or to be abnormal, we were made exactly the way we were supposed to be made.

There are many messed up things in the bible.  In fact, Leviticus says some pretty stupid things like Leviticus 19:27 “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.”  How many religious people do you know who cut their hair and shave their face?  I don’t go around telling them how sinful they are, so why are they telling me how I’m going to hell for being gay?

And right next to that in Leviticus 19:28 it says “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.”  How many right-wing fundamentalist born again Christians do you see walking around with a tattoo on their body?  Cause I see a lot of them.  When I bring it up they tell me “Oh I did that a long time ago when I was a sinner before I found Jesus so it doesn’t count.”  Uh, I’m pretty sure it counts even if you say that Jesus wiped away all of your past sins.  I’m sorry but if it’s still on your body, it still counts to me.

I don’t have anything against religious people, it’s the religious people who preach to me that I am going to hell for being gay, that is where I have an issue.  I used to go to church every Sunday when I was living in Bakersfield in 1981/83.  I even went to church band camp.  I wasn’t really hard-core, I was just a regular christian just like everyone else who didn’t push my religion down people’s throats.  I was even a Mormon when I was 14 and went to the Mormon church and even went to the Mormon teen dances.  When I was 16 years old and worked at McDonald’s a customer started yelling at me because I asked if it was for “here or to-go” and he started cursing “the lord’s name in vain” and I got so upset that I almost started crying.  Not because he yelled, but because of what he said.  It really hurt my heart that he said what he said.

I stopped being religious when I came out of the closet and people started beating the bible into me.  My first boyfriend’s (who I call “William” in my book) mother used to preach Leviticus to me every time I saw her, she is who preached my religion out of me.  She is who made me the activist that I am today, well she and my sister who used to preach that I was going to hell for being gay (who later apologized to me for that).

Here is a great example of why I am so angry with the fundamentalist right-wing born again Christians.

Then there is this video.  Fischer: “It Is Altogether Right To Discriminate Against Homosexual Behavior” – YouTube

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v_PjOYGZ0o&feature=player_embedded

This is what we (the LGBTQIA community) are fighting against.  The right-wing fundamentalist born again Christians say that we are anti-religious bigots, but they started a war against gay people.  We aren’t anti-religion, we are just anti-those people.

All gay people want is to live their lives in peace without any controversy, but we have these evil Christians who have waged a war against us and all we are doing is fighting back, that’s all.  We don’t care who Christians worship, we just don’t want to be told that we are going to hell or that you don’t accept our lifestyle (as if we asked for permission).  If the right-wing fundamentalist born again Christians will stop threatening, bullying, beating and killing gay people, then we will be cool.  We just want to live normal lives, that’s all.

So the next time you see me posting something like this on Facebook or anywhere else, now you know why.

Oh and by the way, even though I am not a Christian anymore, I still believe in the positive teachings of Jesus Christ.  My favorite bible scripture is of him saying Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'” 44 “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” 45 “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  I personally believe that Jesus was a good person because he fed the poor and hungry and he healed the sick and gave sight to the blind, or so I have heard.  At any rate, I don’t hate Jesus, because Jesus was a good person.  I also love the Facebook page Jesus Loves Gays because I believe that he does.

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p style=”text-align: justify;”>Stepping off my soapbox for now.

Caution: You Have Entered a (NO) Free Speech Zone

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Do you have freedom of speech?  I don’t.

I started using Facebook in 2007.  My life partner’s sister-in-law signed up for Facebook a few years later and immediately started telling me what to do.  The first thing she did was send me an email telling me that I can’t use a cartoon as my profile picture.  I was shocked that she had the nerve to tell me what I can do on my own Facebook page.  Then she told me that I wasn’t allowed to post any gay rights issues.  I was gobsmacked that she would tell me that because again, it’s MY wall.

To keep things neutral, I put a restriction on her and all of her family members, including a few of my own family members just in case.  If they don’t want to see certain things then I won’t shove it down their throats by allowing them to see it.  In return, they shove their religion down my throat every time they post religious stuff on their page.  Sounds fair, right?  That was sarcasm by the way.

Yesterday I woke up and found this in my inbox.

I was in shock again because everything that I had posted that was offensive to her was properly hidden, or so I thought.  Apparently on her new tablet using mobile Facebook, she can see EVERYTHING!  Not just the posts that I had shared and hidden but also all of my likes.  If I went through the list of posts on the Facebook “home” page and started clicking the like button, she saw all of those likes.  That means if I clicked like on “Have a Gay Day” she saw it and apparently that is so offensive to her that she just couldn’t stand looking at her own Facebook page because she was inundated with pro-gay stuff.

I went on a rant on Facebook yesterday saying if you don’t want to see my pro-gay shit then unfriend me, and she saw that too even after I unfriended her.  I had to unfriend her and her whole family and then block each one of them so none of them would see anything that might be offensive to them.  My book is also offensive to them.

Normally I would say this is MY life and if you don’t like it then hit the bricks, but this is my life partner’s family here, I can’t be a jerk to them because that would put a huge strain on our relationship, it already has.  So to build a bridge, I had to create a whole new Facebook page specifically for them to follow.  That means I will not be allowed to do anything.  I won’t be able to “Like” any gay Facebook pages or “Like” any pro-gay posts, heck I won’t be able to “Like” a status update from anyone out of fear that I am offending one person.

I am trying to be nice here and not cuss, but it’s very difficult.  I have already censored the F-word four times now.

So why am I telling you good people?  Because I am putting a warning out there for you all.  If you have fundamental born again Christian family members and/or in/outlaws, you are sharing too much stuff that they clearly don’t want to see.  Not that you have to care, but I’m just letting you know because I’m sure you don’t want to put a strain on your relationship with those people.

My life partner refuses to get on Facebook for this very reason.  I have thought about leaving Facebook many times, but I refuse to be silenced.  I want my voice to be heard, not just on my regular Facebook wall but also my books Facebook page.  My freedom of speech should not be limited, even though it has been, but to make up for the censorship, I am going to be even more vocal about my right to free speech and gay rights and equality because that is what I am passionate about.  I don’t give a flying… leap about what other people think of me, I am GAY and I am not going AWAY!  I’m here, I’m queer, GET FUCKING USED TO IT!

Yeah, I say that now, but then I go to that one Facebook page with my tail tucked between my legs and post pictures of kittens and puppies…  My balls have been removed and my fundie outlaw is wearing them as earrings.

I am 42 years old and I am not just being bullied, but I’m being cyberbullied by my own family.  Isn’t that a kick in the pants?

The 3-Day War On Sandra Fluke by Rush Limbaugh

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I was browsing through the Facebook home page and found a video posted by One Million Dads Against One Million Moms.  This video is an audio clip with some pictures of Rush Limbaugh.  In the audio clip he is saying that if Sandra Fluke who is asking for free contraceptive wants to get free condoms and lube from the government that she needs to make a video so we can all watch.  Take a look:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYxxps6tgSQ)

Rush to Fluke: We Want You To Post The Videos Online So We Can Watch

This is disgusting.  One Million Dads Against One Million Moms has asked that people email Clear Channel to ask them to get Rush Limbaugh off the air.  Here is what he said:

OK Enough is enough!! Limbaugh has been vilifying Sandra Fluke for days. This is the latest turd to fall out of his mouth. I NEVER do this but I am asking for your help to get this misogynistic scumbag OFF THE AIR!!!

Contact information for Limbaugh’s station operator Clear Channel Communications Inc. is:

Clear Channel Corporate
Address: 200 East Basse Road San Antonio, TX 78209
Communications / Media Relations: Public Relations (210) 822-2828 publicrelations@clearchannel.com

My email to clear channel

To whom it may concern:

Please STOP LIMBAUGH!!! Enough is enough. It’s one thing if he merely espoused political ideals I disagreed with…but the vitriolic evil that he has been spewing in the past three days about Sandra Fluke is totally inexcusable! There is just NO PLACE in civil discourse for behavior such as this. He can disagree with this girl (she is just a Young student for god sake) with out impugning her character FOR DAYS!!! I know satire….and this WAS NOT SATIRE it was bile spewed by some washed up drug addict with a proclivity for international jaunts for illicit sex! The sun has set on the Limbaugh empire and it is time that we all coincide the Emperor has no MORALS!!

Please show this misogynistic fascist the door, show him that HATE has no place in Clear Channel!! I Love Clear Channel, iheart is amazing…you are better than THIS!! Please tell that failure at life that he can take his hate somewhere else!

I wholeheartedly agree, so I emailed Clear Channel.  I included his first paragraph as a quote, but I also included this in my email.

I was asked to email Clear Channel to ask them to please stop Rush Limbaugh from talking about a student who is asking for contraceptive.  I copied and pasted his email, but I want to include something else here.  I think it is disgusting and in poor taste that a grown man would attack a student, a woman, like this.  I don’t care if it is in fun or not, it is disgusting and this attack on women has got to stop.  This world would be such a better place to live in if there wasn’t so much hatred in the world and Rush Limbaugh is only adding to the hate.  By allowing his hate speech on your channel sends a message that you advocate hate speech and I don’t think that that is your true intention.  Please either shut him up, or get him off of the air.  There is already enough hate with the war on gays, why add women to the list?

When I was in high school in the mid 80’s, they started handing out condoms for free at the student store.  What is the difference from that happening more than 25 years ago and someone asking for the same thing today?  You can get free lube and condoms at any Gay and Lesbian center as well as at any clinic, what is the big deal?  Who cares?  Give me a break!  Why rip on a woman for 3 days over something so trivial?  Tell Rush to pick on someone his own size for a change.

Michel McDonald

I am all for free speech, but I am not for free hate speech, especially when it is asking a woman to have sex on camera so he can watch.  This man is disgusting and he needs to stop attacking this woman once and for all.  I hope that people agree with me and either call the number or send an email.