Monday, 14 November 2011

How Are Women's Issues Also Men's Issues?

Women’s issues are also men’s issues because men and women are all people. We all live together, and therefore anything that affects women will affect men in some way as well, and vice versa. The women’s rights movement is essentially a human rights movement. It is all about freedom and equality. For example, the freedom to work whatever job you want, and to be paid fairly for that job and the right to be treated equally and to not have to face gender-based discrimination. Many of the issues faced in the women’s rights movement are issues that face all minority groups. Another issue that women face is the unreal expectations and standards that are put on them by society because of their gender. This is an issue that men face as well. If we could eliminate all the stereotypes and expectations placed on women, then we could also eliminate those that men face. Women’s issues and men’s issues are intertwined; by improving the situation for one gender, we can in turn change things for the other gender.

Saturday, 5 November 2011

LGBT Homework

Gay rights activists are important for so many reasons. They have done so much for gay rights over the past few decades. In 1978, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Harvey won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for his district. He was an advocate for gay rights and was responsible for a strict gay rights ordinance for the city. Harvey Milk was one of the most important gay rights activists, and an inspiration for LGBT people everywhere, even in his death. Another important gay rights activist is Brian Burke, an American hockey executive, and founder of myGSA.ca. Brian is a very powerful agent of change in fighting homophobia in sports. He was a part of the “Anything But Straight in Athletics” series and has been working on gaining acceptance of homosexuality in hockey. Jack Layton, the leader of the NDP party, was also an important gay rights advocate. He was one of the Canadian politicians that the queer community always counted as an ally. He always supported gay marriage, and was a big part of making it legal in Canada. He was also played an important role in supporting anonymous testing for HIV. Without these people, and countless others like them, the gay rights movement would go nowhere. We need people like these in order to change things and make the world a better place for LGBT people.

We still need gay rights activists because homophobia still exists, the LGBT community does not yet have equal rights, and they still face discrimination. Every day, people are bullied and discriminated against for being gay, lesbian, transgendered, etc. Same-sex marriages are still not legal in most states. In many places, LGBT people are still treated like second-class citizens, which is unacceptable. And every day, kids and teens are bullied and harassed by their peers because of their sexual orientation. We hear stories all too often about youths being bullied for being gay, and committing suicide due to such harassment. Young teens such as 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, 15-year-old Jamie Hubley and countless others. All these kids and teens could have done great things with their lives, but due to bullying, they will never get the chance. Then there are the horrific stories of young people such as Matthew Shepard, and Lawrence “Larry” King, who were both killed, all because they were gay. While Matthew Shepard was killed over a decade ago, in 1998, young Larry King was murdered only a few years ago, in 2008. Ten years later and these terrible hate crimes are still happening. This is why we still need gay rights activists. Kids should not be bullied or harassed due to their sexual orientation. It is unacceptable, and it needs to stop. LGBT activists are just as important now as they were in the time of Harvey Milk, or Matthew Shepard, if not more important.

Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Tories Unveil Crime Bill, But Not The Costs

While I do believe that tougher sentencing laws are a good idea, I think that the fact that the government has not released the costs involved in this project is troubling. With an influx of over 4000 new inmates, many changes are going to need to be made, and they can't be cheap. There will need to be renovations done to many of Canada's prisons, and a few thousand more employees will need to be hired. If the government is able to find the funding for this project, without major cuts to the funding of any other programs, then I am all for it. But if the cost is too great and takes away funding for other important programs, then they may need to re-evaluate.

Tuesday, 13 September 2011

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The boy in this story faces many difficulties in his life. He was born with "water on the brain" and had to have surgery to remove the fluid at a very young age, which caused many problems. He has a really big head, huge feet and is very skinny. He also speaks with a stutter and a lisp. His appearance combined with his speech impediment made him a huge target for bullies. He was often beat up and called "retard". His family was also very poor. They would often have to skip meals as they did not always have enough money to buy food. He only had one true friend, his dog. But when his dog started to get very sick, his family did not have enough money to take the dog to the vet. His father had to shoot the dog to put it out of its misery, and the boy lost his only true friend. This boy faced a very rough childhood.