October 26, 2005 - Washington, D.C. - PFLAG is alarmed and angered that a conference called “Groundswell” is targeting our youth in Seattle on October 27th. This offshoot of the widely discredited Exodus International “ex-gay” ministries now appears to be recruiting young people to deliver their dangerous and misguided message in schools. They would have Christian young people become their newest evangelical weapon by training them how to badger their gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (GLBTQ) peers with the message that they can and should “change,” derail Gay/Straight Alliance clubs, challenge or obstruct policies that address anti-GLBTQ harassment at school…” (more)

I’m outraged. It’s bad enough that Bush’s new SCOTUS nominee overturned an anti-harassment policy enacted to ban unwelcome verbal, written, or physical conduct which offends, denigrates or belittles an individual, and will surely continue this “mind” set if he reaches the court.

Combined with this grassroots campaign by people who claim to be concerned about the well being of children, you have Matthew Shepherd over and over and over again.

I wrote last night about wanting to do more music. I spoke with another musician friend about why exactly it was I walked away from the bright musical future that lay before me. I walked away because a majority of my peers, teachers, and professional contacts… the people I would need to form relationships with in order to thrive… were incredibly homophobic. Explicitly, continuously talking about all the fags, and implicitly… pushing people out that weren’t quite right, or lisping and prancing when talking about a delicate phrase or tender chord structure… something that didn’t fit the aesthetic of the bebop-mafioso or cock-rock mouth-breathers.

Computers offered an anti-social professional escape for me. I could do things in isolation, and my work could be appreciated remotely. I didn’t have to endure the surreptitious or even overt looks, the comments, the freezing out. Even better, it turned out that a large percentage of people in the tech industry were enlightened and intelligent enough not to care who I choose to love. Its a complete non-issue in the Bay Area. The angry pink triangle tattoo on my leg isn’t necessary, and I like it that way.

When we teach children to disrespect their peers, those children turn into adults that disrespect their peers. Or hurt them professionally. Or beat them. Or kill them.