Disgusting

In Orange County, California, Attorney Matt McLaughlin has submitted a bill for the ballot next November.

This bill would make it legal for gay men and women to be executed simply because they are gay.

I am all for free speech, but when a bill is presented to the voting public making it legal to kill someone because their sexuality, that is beyond wrong.

It is disgusting.

The constitution states the following: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. It does not state “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but only if you are heterosexual”.

There are countries around the world where homosexuality is a crime. The punishment, even at the idea of being gay, at best to being thrown into prison and tortured. At worst, the punishment is execution. Iran is notorious to executing those who are perceived to be gay, even if they are not.

This should not be happening in the United States. But it is. And it’s disgusting.

 

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Dear Shailene Woodley

Dear Shailene Woodley

You say that you are not a feminist. You say that the label of feminism is “divisive”.

Feminism is not about hating men or switching roles where the female is dominant and the man is submissive. Feminism is about our rights as women to have our voices heard and choosing to live our lives as we see fit.

Without feminism, your role in Divergent would have never existed. You would be forced to play characters in romantic melodramas or comedies where the movie ends with the same old happy ending.  Their opportunities for education, for professional advancement, for personal happiness would not exist.  Similarly, your education would be limited. The professions that would be open to you would limited. You would be expected to marry, have children and keep a house. That would be the extent of your life.

So before you say that you are not a feminist, remember the women who fought long and hard for you to say those words.  Remember the women who gave you that voice and paved the way for the opportunities that you take for granted.

And then tell me that you are not a feminist.

Sincerely

An out and proud feminist

An American Bride In Kabul Book Review

Life is made up a variety of experiences. Sometimes these experiences take our lives into new directions previously not thought of.

In the early 1960’s, second wave feminist and author Phyllis Chesler was young and in love. Ms. Chesler was born into an Orthodox Jewish family from Brooklyn, New York. The man she fell in love with was the son of a devout Muslim family from Afghanistan.

Deciding to take a chance on love, she put aside her family and her ambitions to marry this man and live with him in his native country. Her experience is chronicle in her 2013 memoir, An American Bride In Kabul. When the plane landed in Kabul, her American passport was taken away from her. She was no longer an individual, but property that was part and parcel of her husband’s family.  The charming, educated, open minded man she fell in love was soon replaced by a traditional man who clung to the old traditions and expected his wife to do the same.

What I very much enjoyed about this book was that it opened my eyes to a world that I know really nothing of. Many of us who live in the West, unless we have visited countries like Afghanistan, truly have no understanding of what it is to live in that world.  One of the points that Ms. Chesler makes is that those of us in the West may pretend to understand what it is to live in Afghanistan and other countries in that region, but the truth is that we do not.

I highly recommend this book.

Honest Cinderella Trailer

Says it all.