Macklemore shows hip-hop doesn't need to be homophobic, violent in Dallas concert

http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/music/headlines/20131201-macklemore-shows-hip-hop-doesn-t-need-to-be-homophobic-violent-in-dallas-concert.ece

Outline:

This past Saturday, Macklemore held a concert at the Verizon Center in Dallas,TX. Throughout the concert he had many things to say with positive messages. Before singing his song titled "Same Love" he said to the crowd "I’m happy with the progress we’ve made in the last year in the forefront of equality.". Macklemore sings about equal rights for same sex couples and speaks against the way music bashes homosexuality. One part of his song "Same Love" goes like this "If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me/Have you read the YouTube comments lately". He also sings about how alcohol and drugs are bad and have a negative affect on you. In his song "Starting Over" he talks about how pot and alcohol hurt his creativity and put him in rehab. He does all of this while still being very entertaining and putting on a great show.

Reflection

I think that Macklemore is just what society needs. We have grown so accustomed to people being put down and with things that aren't good becoming social norms, that Macklemore goes and challenges all these ideas and beliefs. We hear people talk all the time about things that are bad as being "gay", for example when someone was talking in convo the other day about people sagging their pants he said "that's GAY". We use the word so freely without even realizing what it is we're saying. I think that many more artists need to promote the right messages in their songs instead of the wrong ones.

Russian Anti-Gay laws

      Russia's new anti-gay laws bands the distribution of "nontraditional" sexual relations to minors. The law will fine anyone who promotes gay activity. The law also does not say anything about not allowing decriminalization or prohibiting acts of violence to the LGBT community. Many people in the more conservatives parts of Russia have used the law to justify their acts of violence. The region of Zabaikalsk passed a law that allowed public humiliation and torture of gay people. Around the nation homo phobics have tried to lure in the LGBT community to humiliate them, even going as far as pouring urine on to them. Recent research after the law was passed showed the suicide rate in the LGBT youth group was much more higher then any other group. Alot more youth is more scared of "coming" out to their parents then years before.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/russia-rise-homophobic-violence

Homophobia and Self-Hatred http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/homophobic-maybe-youre-gay.html?_r=0

Jendy VanHeyningen

Summary
          In the article I chose, Richard Ryan and William Lewis talk about people being homophobic. They talk Anjou how maybe homophobia is just self-hatred and how people try their hardest to get over it. It also says, "An evangelical leader who preached that homosexuality was a sin, resigned after a scandal involving a former male prostitute." There is also a theory about the suppression of your sexual orientation out of fear, maybe shown as homophobia. In the United States and Germany there are 6 different using college students. One of the studies was called "semantic association." You are given a computer, with either the word "me" or "other" on the screen for 35 milliseconds. So basically when certain images that pertain to you're sexual orientation are flashed on the screen after the word "me", you will shown not faster than if an image is shown not pertaining or associating your sexual orientation. Something that may lead to the concealing of sexual orientation might be if you have parents who may or may not accept your sexual orientation any way. It may not be the case for everybody concealing how they feel or for every that shows homophobia but you have to consider this theory as well.

Reflection
              I think that this theory is a very much valid, especially when you apply the factor of if your parents are accepting or not about not being heterosexual. I honestly think that it is not even a majority of the homophobic people that are in fact homosexual but it is a significant amount of them repressing this. It makes me feel uneasy knowing that prod have to hide who they truly are just because society doesn't accept and even more surprising is their parents. I don't think that society even to this day is exactly "accepting" homosexuality, but they are tolerating it made than they have before. When I say "society" mean the heterosexual community because in order to accept the people of different sexual orientation, it has come from them. This situation we have in the United States is ridiculous. If somebody is homosexual then that's none of your business so you should just let them be and do what they want to do because they aren't worried about your life.

Rise in Russia's Homophobic Violence

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/01/russia-rise-homophobic-violence

REFLECTION:

This article really highlights how unaccepting the world can still be towards people who are LGBT. Even in today's day and age you would have the assumption that at least people are more understanding about topics of homosexuality, bisexuality, etc. but apparently in places like Russia there is a massive rise of homophobic violence. For example, people would try to publicly humiliate people who are known to be gay by means of humiliation in public, cyber bullying, verbal harassment, etc. People in the LGBT community even feel that they are being "terrorized" in some cases with all the homophobia. Also people in this article discuss how this  heavily affects teenagers as well by saying that "People "scorn and hate lesbians, and hate and beat gays", said Lena, a 14-year-old from Abakan, a city of 170,000 in Siberia. She said an acquaintance had tried to trick her into going on a date with a girl. "It was a good thing my friend was able to talk me out of it, since I found out later that several homophobes were waiting for me there," she said. Than on top of that Russia is enacting anti-gay laws that will further hurt the LGBT community in that region. Also, another example of how bad homophobic behavior is affecting the teenage youth is when Artyom Reutov, a 15-year-old from the city of Veliky Ustyug, in the north of Russia, said his teachers were openly homophobic, suggesting that LGBT should be exiled or given compulsory medical treatment. Now, obviously you can tell from the passages so far that there is a serious problem at hand here. There are lives being threatened, oppressive laws being made, and malicious actions being accepted by authorities that are not helping these PEOPLE. They are not "gay" or "fags", they are PEOPLE like you and me and they should be treated the same as anybody else even if they are gay or lesbian. Please read this article it is extremely eye-opening and the sad part is that it is 2013 and discrimination as serious as this is still alive.

Homophobia in Jamaica

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saddique-elliott/leaving-hell_b_3201443.html

Reading this saddens me. Many people think that the homophobia in the US is bad but the the Caribbean countries and areas, homosexuality is greatly frowned upon. Also, although I am not gay, I can relate to the heteronormativity and conditioning as when I was younger my mom's best friend would always be the one to call me out on something and would always say "crying is for girls" or "man up" if there were time when I felt sad about something. Also in ALOT of reggae and dancehall music and videos there are flooding amounts of hyper masculinity and degradation of women as sexual figures only.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/14/senegala-s-criminalizationofhomosexualitypartofaregionaltrend.html

homosexuality is still illegal in 38 African countries. this is causing uproar internationally because it violates international standards set by the united nations. homosexuals have been greeted with great hostility and violence and movements have been made against this law. many homosexuals are forced to leave the country because of their own governments hostility. what would you do if your country had a policy against your race, over something you cant control? what would you do? would you stand up against your own country?

NHL Showing respect to Homosexuals

This article is on the National Hockey League (NHL)how they decided to come to an agreement with the You Can Play project which promotes respect for athletes regardless of their sexual orientation. They're trying to show people to judge people on their abilities whether if they are athletic, academic and etc not sexualorientation. This is a huge step towards stopping homophobia all over the world. I believe that people should'nt be judged by their sexual orientation, disability, race and etc. If all well focused sports were to do this and try to put an end towards problems such as these then people would reconsider there thoughts towards this and have a different perspective on these situatuions.

Cassano apologizes for homophobic comments

Cassano apologizes for homophobic comments

Italy striker Antonio Cassano commented after he was asked about an Italian TV personality's claim that there are two gay players in the current Italy squad. His exact comment was  "If they're queer, that's their problem. I hope there aren't any queers in the national team." The Milan striker's comments were largely laughed off at the time, but sparked outrage among gay rights groups. Those reactions prompted an apology on Tuesday, with Cassano issuing a statement which read: "I'm sincerely sorry that what I said has sparked controversy and protests from gay associations.

This is a very dosrespectful to many people who are homosexual. Cassano did not make the right dissicion and made himself look homophobic. This could have caused a large impact on his career.

Gender Bias and Feminism Article

"It seems feminism is still a dirty word in the classroom. As a teacher, I was not particularly shocked by the fact that 17-year-old Jinan Younis didn't feel supported when she started a feminist society at her school. Nor was I particularly surprised when sixth formers from a nearby boy's school responded with a flood of misogynistic abuse on Twitter.

I've also encountered a distinctly derisive attitude towards any mention of gender, let alone feminism, since I began teaching two years ago. In one instance, my senior (female, middle aged) mentor pointed out that the boys in my lessons were contributing a lot more than the girls."

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2013/nov/23/feminism-classroom-dirty-word-secret-teacher

Love the Sinner Hate the Sin

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/21/opinion/la-oe-daum-portman-gay-marriage-20130321

                  This article reminded me much of my mother. The other day i asked her what her views on gay marriage  was being that it was just recently legalized in new jersey. She then exclaimed to me that she believed that God did not intend for a man and a man or a women and a women to procreate, therefore she did not believe in it.
                   When she said this the first story that came to my mind was the article we read in class explaining how you can use the Bible ( or any religious book for that matter ) to defend any position on any social construct. If a person believes that two people of the same sex cant be together than they would also have to believe that if you ware cotton and silk at the same time it is an abomination.
                   Also in this article it explains to love the sinner and hate the sin. Coming from a christian radio station this is nothing but a contradiction. Much like other religions one of the mail principles is to love everybody unconditionally. Hating anything about anybody whether it be a person or an action is not a part of christian values. If God hated some aspects of us and loved others i'm almost 100% sure None of us would live too see glory        

Homophobia in HS sports

Anthony Gomez
Mr. Cassidy
Diversity and Social Justice
November 23, 2013

Homophobia Article 

             The article I read called " Colorado High Schools Tackle Homophobia" was about high school students in Colorado creating a campaign on homophobia and fighting it. The article was about fighting homophobia and bullying that goes on in sports. In today society there is a lot of hate towards athletes who are gay and they get bullied, these high school students are fighting for what's right and I totally respect that. In the article it says "Colorado student athletes, coaches and administrators are working together to make videos that combat homophobia and bullying in sports and promote the inclusion of all students". Students are taking the time out of there schedule to fight and promote homophobia in sports. These students also talk about supporting there classmates or teammates weather they are gay or straight. Also in the article it says "Some of my best friends are my teammates and I will do anything to help them succeed. That includes accepting them, whether they are gay or straight,” students in the video say, alternating lines. “Regardless of their race, religion or background. None of that matters to me. What does matters is heart, talent and skill.” This quote really touched my heart because it shows how warm- hearted some people can be.
        My reflection on this article is that what these students are doing is a great example of leadership. It also promotes awareness on homophobia, and homophobia in sports. This article touched me so much that I even joined there campaign !

Rochester College Homophobia

Joe Burgos

Diversity

Mr. Cassidy

11-24-13

Article

           

            This week my article is about a college student named Klah Zabel and how she came out to the public about being lesbian by posting a banner on her Facebook page saying “Out...Proud…Lesbian”. Apparently the college that she attended did not take it as though she thought they would, Klah claim that the dean of students named Brian Cole threatened to expel her if she did not take that picture down. In her college student handbook it says that the college holds that sexual relationships are designed by God and expressed within marriage between a husband and wife. The funny thing here is that she didn’t break any rule. Another very important point in the handbook is that it states “Students are expected to refrain from any discriminatory behavior, verbal or physical, they stigmatizes or victimizes individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.” But the real point here is that this rule only applies strictly to students it never says anything about the faculty at the school. This gives them the freedom to do ar say anything they want.

            What I retained from this article is that I find this kind of funny. Not saying that this is not wrong but just basically stupid. I feel that they should honestly change the rule that’s in the student handbook at Rochester College. The reason that I find this article funny is because the student handbook states that teachers don’t apply to the rule of discriminatory behavior. Why restrict the students but not the teachers its just dumb. I also feel bad for the girl because if I were in her position I know it would definitely take a lot of courage to open up and when you finally do you just get laughed at in your face. That’s just wrong people need to be more considerate, they should climb up in others shoes and see if they would like it.

            http://www.nerve.com/news/web/rochester-college-asks-student-to-stop-being-gay-on-facebook-0

Homophobia

 People think that homophobia in sports is uncommon. People always assume that your not afraid of someone who is gay because you play a sport and your automatically a "man." I think that everyone shouldn't assume that every guy who plays a sport isn't straight and that if they are in a sport they shouldn't be scared if there is a guy who is gay on the team. Homophobia usually occurs most in the locker rooms because straight guys wouldn't feel comfortable while showering or dressing with a gay person in the room. I personally think homophobia is something straight people use to both keep their distance because they deep down don't like gay people and secondly they use homophobia that as an excuse that deep down don't know their sexuality yet.

          Tennessee private school "Rossville Christian Academy" bands any mention or acts of homosexuality due to the saying of the "scriptures". WREG news claims,  parents and faculty came together and protested with a letter to "Rossville Christian Academy" . This letter stated why should a child be punished for being who they are? If a child speaks or shows any signs of homosexuality he/she may be expelled or get given detention. Is this right?A professor  of University of Memphis Law with the name Steve Mulroy says that the policy is "totally legal" there is no law stating protection for homosexuality.  

http://www.nerve.com/news/current-events/tennessee-school-bans-any-mention-of-homosexuality-among-student-body

Homophobia

http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-russia-putin-warns-against-homophobia-as-olympics-approach/1794328.html

This article is about Vladimir Putin and what he says about that view Russian have towards homosexuals. In this article he is saying that homosexuals are welcome at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, as there is a law against gays in Russia that does not allow LGBT's legal protection and homosexuality has been classed as a mental illness. Putin has defended this law but has also admitted that the hatred towards gays is wrong.

       I think that it is good that Putin has admitted that the hatred towards gays is wrongs but I also feel that it is a publicity stunt to draw more people to Russia for the Winter Olympics. 

homophopia

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/homophobia

         Homophobia in sports is so.....weird. People that play sports can understand completely what i am saying. Even when you were little this stuff was happening to you. Parents would urge there kids to "be a man or "man up". Those are the types of things people can take offense to like the wrestler from the University of Maryland. I'm not saying it just happens to little kids it happens when you are older as well. Another type of Homophobic thing to say is "stop acting like a girl". I know many people who take offense to this ,because sometimes this isn't true. There are women out there who have bigger  muscles then men or are way more smarter than men. I just feel society will never change there ways on how we view Homophobia.

Homophia is just generic macho stupidity

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/edwest/2013/11/how-much-of-homophobia-is-just-generic-macho-stupidity/

Ruben Cuñas
Diversity
Mr. Cassidy

Homophobia

In this article,  it is saying how kids take the word "gay" to insult others  and how work places that are welcoming to the  gay will become a nicer place. But in undomesticated environments more aggressive men bully those who are less masculine with insults . Since gay men are often synonyms of  feminine like or weak.  Homophobia  isn't much about sexual attraction but more generic macho stupidity displayed by men with low IQ. 

Homophobic

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/homophobic-maybe-youre-gay.html?_r=0.            The article was very interesting, it made most homophobic people question their sexuality . Personally I think if a person hates the gay community that means your gay but hiding it behind your hate towards the LGBT community. One theory is that homosexual urges, when repressed out of shame or fear, can be expressed as homophobia. Freud famously called this process a “reaction formation” — the angry battle against the outward symbol of feelings that are inwardly being stifled. What do you think about this article? 

Homophobia

http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/10830476.Footballer_accused_of_homophobia_to_stand_trial/

This article is about Colin Kazim-Richards who is being accused of doing a homophobic gesture during a soccer game. He is due to court in sometime in January. This whole situation doesn't surprises me one bit. We live in a society where sports have a heavy influence on many boys and men today. Homophobia in sports not is bad but if it influences males today, then it just another problem all over again. Doing homophobic gestures during a professional game is totally inappropriate and he deserves any consequences he receives. 

gender bias

The article that I picked was police officers being gender bias to females when they are behind the wheel of a motor vehichle. Cops say that they should give tips to females when they are driving. Tips like where to go. Try and send them on the safest route. And even tell them not get distracted while driving because they are the reason for accidents to happen unexpectaly. "Some female drivers lack a sense of direction. While driving, they often can’t decide which road they should take .… Even for places they’ve been to several times, they still can’t remember how to get there when driving themselves" says one oficcer to explain how he thinks women are when they are driving. So he believes that us men should always help them out if we were thier fathers. This is from the Bejing department telling women that they are not very good drivers.

Gender Bias

Geneder Bias in this country is a huge issue considering the fact of the amount of sexist acts they are across the country. This case the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) banned father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames. They stated if this occurs the people will be in violation of gender discrimination law. I believe this is very uneccessary considering the circumstances that this is a tradition that has been going on in families for many years. The deiscrimination law should be protecting the citizens when neccessary, not being over protective and create laws where situations like these that dont occur very often.

Gender Bias

          Michael Lescano


        I feel having actual women telling us about there gender bias experiences was a great idea. There stories really made me think  "does this really still happen" The story that Mrs.Tordo had told us happen to be my favorite in explaining her gender bias experience. The fact that after Mrs. Tordo impressed everyone in her meeting the man had the nerves to go to Mrs.Tordo and say "oh I thought you were someones secretary". I would have been upset after feeling so good for giving that speech only to have someone ruin my mood by making me feel like crap. I also like Mrs. Tordos explanation of what she does when she meets new people. She doesn't explain herself to people she meets she wants them to be nice to her for who she is not for what she does.

Racism in sports

           

   Michael Lescano

      The article i read dealt with a South African rugby team. The team had more black people then white people, but the black people who played came from poor or lower class families. They played the only white team in South Africa which was called Afrikaans. After realizing they were losing they went to their last resort which was bringing racism into the game. The all white team was hoping to try to get in the other teams head by calling the other team dogs and kaffir's. The team didn't take offense to it at all, they just said the things most sports teams do which is "what is the score?" or "who is winning again?"


    My one and only response to this article that i read is that i cannot believe that this still happens today???? I realize winning in a sport is a big thing, but if your getting beat by a team that is just flat out better than you just accept the fact that they are better. Why bring racism into sports is beyond my imagination. Yes i realize it does get people of there game and make them do stupid things but why racism?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/18/south-africa-racism-rugby

http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-and-love/parenting-and-families/the-gender-bias-in-childrens-books-20131118-2xqzz.html

This article is about gender bias in children books. In children books, there are more male protagonists than females protagonists. Also, studies have shown that if a children's book has a female protagonist, it is more likely for little girls to read. The article also claims that this is the reason young boys grow up saying that they hate young girls. Children's books are just another way of conditioning children that males have bigger privilege than females.

class discussion

Anthony Gomez
Mr. Cassidy
Block 4
11-17-13
Gender Bias
       Today's class discussion was very interesting and it opended up my eyes on gender bias on woman. Woman go through a lot of hardships and struggles even in 2013. Woman are still faced with not being paid equally even though they have the same qualifications as a male and do the same jobs. Also woman face a lot of harassment. Mrs. Turto talked about her experiencing harassment first hand and seeing it happen. She talked about how if I guy looks at you in a sexual matter, it feels very violating. After hearing this, it made me realize how much looking a woman in a sexual way, up and down, can hurt her and affect her. Today gave me a greater insight on gender bias on woman.
        Mrs. Turto and Mrs. Baker also spoke about the way woman dress. They talked about woman dressing provocative and it doesn't matter what a woman wears, men still do not have the right to whistle at them and treat them differently. Hearing Mrs. Turoto and Mrs. Baker speak made me make a change in my life, it changed my views on woman. I want to treat woman differently and be more of a gentleman. Its hard for me sometimes to be a gentleman towards woman but I will change that because I know how much violating a woman hurts after listening to Mrs. Turoto and Mrs. Baker. After the class discussion today I am hoping to spread these views and ideas with my peers so we can fight gender bias together !