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Earth Hour March 29, 2008

Posted by dhconcerts in Health, International, Peace, Justice and Equality, Quoting Others, Video/YouTube.
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Deb’s House Concerts

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I found this Earth Hour Movie - Narrated by Jeremy Piven on Big Brass Blog.

On Saturday, March 29 at 8pm millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour - symbolizing the need to take action on climate change. (more…)

Weary of The Sally March 29, 2008

Posted by dhconcerts in About Life, Anecdotes, Health, Peace, Justice and Equality, Sally Kearn, Sally Kern, Sally Kern / Sally Kearn.
2 comments

Deb’s House Concerts

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[UPDATE: Sunday March 30, 2008 - I will list links to support and advocacy groups at the end of this post as I learn of them. I will list links to sites that monitor Kern's hate-speech (and, those groups who promote and support her hate-speech) in a comment to this post.]

It seems that Sally Kern’s misinformed attacks on gay people will not end any time soon. I will be surprised if they ever end. Before the YouTube video that made her famous, I had not heard of her. Now, her legally-protected hate speech is covered at every turn.

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Sally Kern shows no signs of stopping her public attacks on gay people or changing her views. If anything, she has dug in her heels, and she is going to great lengths to repeat her ignorant and hate-tinged views as often as possible in print (letter to OK newspaper) and at her public meetings.

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I must say Sally Kern’s behavior does not surprise me. I know someone who is like her in making ignorant and narrow-minded statements and holding ignorant and narrow-minded views. I was subjected to that person’s anti-everyone attitudes for most of my life. Only in recent years did someone point out to me that she talks that way to everyone, and I just let her negativity affect me more than most. I still feel sorry for the young people who have to listen to her hate-speech.

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I have been fortunate never to have lived with the person I know who feels the need to verbally attack every group she thinks is ‘bad’ (based on her personal beliefs). That person has never changed for as long as I’ve known her. I believe she means well and probably has not the slightest idea of the damage she did to me over the years. Because of the misguided preacher of hate in my own life, someone who I want to believe is actually a good and loving person who means well (at least in her own personal circle), I want to believe the same of Sally Kern.

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I want to believe Sally Kern means well, in her own misguided way. I want to believe she has no idea how much harm she causes people with her attitudes, actions and words. I feel especially sorry for any young people who trust her and look up to her, people over whom she has influence. If she was as outspoken about her views during her 20 years in education as the person I know, believing she was doing the right thing by talking about how bad other people are for their very existence, then she very well may have caused harm to many people. This is my personal opinion based on my experience with negative and judgmental people. I think it’s a shame for adults to be so hostile and negative towards kids. It’s hard enough to grow up. Sally Kern’s views are no friend to any young person who is gay or lesbian.

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I think the reason I’ve posted so much about The Sally is that she’s like the anti-everyone person in my life. That person caused me harm over the years with her negativity and hate speech, and she was someone I rarely saw. Words matter. Words can be used to heal or to harm. I have always believed if I were ever in a position to speak up about these things, I should, for the sake of other kids who are harmed by such ignorant and hateful attitudes, especially when those things are spoken by people who say they are only saying what God says. Incredible damage is often done by people who say they speak in the name of God (but do so, most certainly, without the blessing of God).

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In my own life, I internalized the anti-everyone speech I heard from the person I knew. I don’t know why I let her get to me. Other people were able to just tune her out. But, I was always (in my own mind) the champion of the underdog. So, she’d say anti-this-group or anti-that-group things to me, and I’d always take the bait and end up in an argument with her. But, she was older and very negative. It was not good for me. I was told many times by someone who knew her that she was really a good and loving person. I even saw good (thoughtful) behavior by her at times. But, for most of my life, the major influence she had on me was of pouring out negativity and judgment on just about everyone. Being confronted with her negativity and voiced judgmental attitudes was like being in a toxic waste swamp. I didn’t drown, but I did not escape without injury.

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I think it’s all about being misguided. The attitudes and beliefs vocalized by Sally Kern, and so many like her, are a watered down version of what the Westboro ‘church’ (a tax-exempt hate group) does. They spread hate, intolerance and rejection of others in the name of religion. It’s really sad that some of the people who have influence (certain religious leaders, educators and politicians) use their influence to create an environment of intolerance and rejection of others rather than one of inclusion and acceptance. (The person I know once named all the ‘bad’ people, and they were everyone. It was really pretty amazing. Any individual or group that was not just like her politically or religiously was in the ‘bad’ category.)

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I hope the young people in Sally Kern’s life, and those within earshot of her unloving words, will close their minds and hearts to the lack of love she spreads. She speaks as if she believes she is spreading God’s word. That’s what the person I know has always done. I don’t see it that way. What I see is the incredible harm she is (potentially) causing.

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I hope for a world where we all accept ourselves and each other. I hope for a world where people can co-exist with different religions, different languages, different loves, different colors of skin, different abilities, different interests. It saddens me to see how so much energy is spent (time, human life, money, emotion) to destroy others who are different. I can’t see that there is anything good in Sally Kern’s repeated public forums where she spreads her anti-gay message. She is quickly becoming too much like the anti-gay ‘church’ that pickets funerals and carries signs thanking God for deaths.

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I have become weary of The Sally.

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If you, too, are tired of The Sally, and you want to escape the negativity of her words and words of those like her, look instead to people and places that offer support and encouragement. PFLAG. Soulfource. Heartstrong. If you’re in Oklahoma, OKEQ. If anyone wants to list support and advocacy groups in the comments, you are welcome to do so. There are also many church groups who are ‘open and affirming’. I welcome links to those groups, too.

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In the long term, if you are tired of hate-speech and anti-equality legislation, be sure you are registered to vote … and vote. These issues are not ‘gay’ issues, they are human issues and equality issues. Americans need to speak up against intolerance and hate. We need to vote proponents of inequality and hate out of office.

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I just remembered another list of equal rights advocacy groups. It’s listed on an anti-gay site (to identify the enemy). I won’t name the anti-gay-for-pay website, but thanks for the link to equal rights organizations:

More support and advocacy groups:

Cimarron Alliance - for A Fair and Just Oklahoma

Equality NC - Equality North Carolina is a statewide advocacy organization that works to secure equal rights and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender North Carolinians

Youth Services of Tulsa - Nonprofit community agency devoted to advocacy for youth

Herland Sister Resources - Herland is a nonprofit organization operated entirely by volunteers. We provide resources for the women’s community to strengthen, enrich, and support women, and to promote a world free of prejudice, oppression and exploitation.