Defining Gay Rights

Every time I see a story about "Gay Rights", I always have to stop and ask myself, "what are they?".  Google it and you get roughly 54 million search results.   Going through and clicking on a few it seems the biggest issues are that of marriage, insurance, children and benefits.  There are also things about hate crimes, violence and discrimination.  They want the same entitlement to jobs that the "straights" have.  They want to be able to go in public and not be stared at, be hassled or mocked.  The UN recently passed a "Gay Rights Resolution Bill" and to be honest the only thing I could see highlighted in that was the issue of discrimination and violence.  What exactly does it mean?

I know that the handicapped have rights, the minorities have rights, women have rights and there are sexual orientations rights as well. Just go look at an employment or lease application and you will see it.  All their rights fall into the "cannot discriminate against" category when it comes to housing, jobs, loans, and pretty much whatever thing you can think of.  I think  it is safe to say that everyone of us falls into one of those categories of people, do we not?  So essentially every labeled person in America has the right to fair treatment.  Oh,yes I just said LABELED.   That's what it all is, a label.  So really what this should be called is "Label Rights"

We have a new label it's called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered, or LGBT for short.  It's simply people choosing to label themselves and are now asking for their own rights that are basically exactly the same as the rest of the labeled people, even though they each fall into one of the already predefined categories.

I don't know about you, but I don't shake someone's hand when I meet them and say, "I'm Christine, I am a straight, white, female."   And I sure as hell don't want them to say," Nice to meet you, I am Bob, a gay, black  male."  Because quite frankly your race, gender and who you sleep with don't matter to me. It's offensive to be labeled "straight".  What matters is the way you conduct business, your public behavior, your morals, and whether or not I can trust you.  I care about the way you treat other people.    A jerk is a jerk, gay, straight, black white or freaking purple for that matter.

We are not Christians, so I don't care to go into the bible says this or the bible says that.  We work VERY hard to live by Nature and her rules. No matter what mankind thinks, what stories they concoct, Nature cannot be changed.  If you don't see it in Nature, then why do it? That's really a large rule in our family.  When we feel conflicted about something and we can't figure out why, we look to outdoors and see the truth in things there.  Because of that, we may not believe in the choices of the Gays, but I am not going to ridicule or think they are any less human than myself.  Just because they choose to fly that label doesn't mean they cannot have good and loving relationships, it doesn't mean they can't have a job or career.  It doesn't mean they are not trustworthy or that they are freaks.  Only one's behavior can determine those things.

Quite honestly what this all comes down to is "what are HUMAN rights" ?  Humanity does not conduct itself in an honorable manner. We kill each other over oil, we think of only the individual instead of the village and we are corrupt beyond belief or even fixing anytime soon.    Until people can look at themselves and make a change, I guess we have to keep having labels.  So pick a label and have it printed on a T-shirt, it's only a matter of tie before we start having M, F, LGBT to check when we fill out an application.  After all, I already have to tell everyone what race I am, even though it's not supposed to matter.

A Gluten Free Post!

It's now the middle of June and we have been doing  the gluten free thing since the beginning of April.  Skip is down 13lbs and 3 inches.   I am down about 6 or 7 and an inch or so.  We both have a ton more energy and a lot of things that were making us feel bad are gone.  Skip's daily headaches are a thing of the past and my GERD has been non existent.  Even Aiden is changing.   His is more willing to try different things and has a better appetite.

Our first month was extremely challenging as we learned how to come up with new meal plans and had to change our thoughts on breakfast and lunch.  We have had to find substitutes for our favorites.   Example, spaghetti.  We tried actual spaghetti squash and were amazed at how much BETTER it was than noodles.  No bloating afterward and the texture is awesome.   I have exchanged bread crumbs for ground flax seed.  It has a much better flavor too!

We also cut out refined sugar as much as possible. We sweeten tea and coffee with an herb called Stevia.  You can get it in little packets.  We allow absolutely no high fructose corn syrup into the house. I read every label if we do buy something that is processed.  It's astounding how many foods are poisoned with that crap.  

We are certainly not sorry for making the switch. Even Skip, who thought he was dying for the first 6 weeks, is VERY happy with the outcome so far and wouldn't go back.  He's even taken to telling other people about it.  We both finally understand that health starts with what you put in your mouth.  We know that our bodies are perfectly able to heal themselves without a bunch of intervention, providing we are giving it what it needs.  No substitutes

Who Are Your Friends??

This is a subject I have been meaning to write about for a few weeks now.   It stems from the ending of 5 year friendship.  It reminded me to look at the people in my life and ask, "How do they enhance my life and how do I enhance their's?"  Non of us still know every single person we were friends with from childhood to now.  Even our best of friends.  I really do believe we grow and change and some of those friends also grow and change in a different direction.  Some don't even grow leaving you scratching your head because you no long have anything in common.   That's really ok.  Friends are like gardens, you have to care and nurture the relationship, pick weeds from it and sometimes till it over if its gone bad.

The particular relationship I am talking about just finally fizzled and died due to very different interests and personal morals.   It not only ended the single friendship, but the rest of her family's as well.  I was called a "hateful, nasty bitch" in an email because I chose to share my thought on hateful public posts.  My comment was something along the lines of," Wishing so much hate and harm to someone can do nothing but bring harm and discontent to yourself.   Let the law deal with the situation and focus on being  strong, kind and loving to the person who has been harmed.  Hate only breeds more hate."

A horrible private message was sent to me full of swears and name calling.  Things of the past were brought up an I was told," I stood by you during this and that and the other thing, even though I thought you were wrong! I was a good friend and stood by you"   Those words made me think.   A good friend stands by you when you are doing wrong?  No, they voice their opinion and tell you why they think you are wrong.   If you are doing things so damn immoral why should anyone smile and bare it?   It's your duty to say something.  Period.  Don't watch your friend self destruct.

The bad things she referenced were me divorcing my husband( I left because he decided being gay was the way to go and he told me he ," Let me have my son because he thought it was like a dog who had puppies, they calmed down.  He didn't actually want a baby" ) and she felt that me dating Skip(who is 22 years my senior)was wrong.

I figured last year things were on the brink when we both had miscarriages about 6 weeks apart early last year.   I sat at home silently letting nature work her magic.  She posted every gruesome detail of the ordeal, including the option to have a D&C done.  She included photos of herself at the hospital and then went right back to work with no time for herself to morn the loss.  For the next year she posted about all her girl's nites out. How drunk she was.  She posted nasty things about her husband.   Then at the beginning of this year she got pregnant again and started the play by play starting with a photo of the pregnancy test.  During all this she never returned my calls, my texts or my FB messages.

I gave up and made peace that the friendship had probably run it's course.  At the end her posts and her families were full if hate and discontent.  I made the choice to delete them all.  They were getting nothing from me and I was getting nothing from them.

Everyone in my life now enhances it.  I hope that I still have something to offer to all of them as well.  If your friends make you crazy, if you can't find common ground or you no longer have any reason to tend your garden with them, then it is probably safe to say it's done.   No one should be hurt by it.  It is what it is.  Don't let it be toxic.