Keeping you in hearts and minds on this day. Happy Memorial Day!
After the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, I was at a loss as to what to do. I’m still at a loss, but I hope that even this little effort will make a difference. I recently joined the livejournal community HELP_HAITI and decided to throat my hat in the game. I’m auctioning up some of my design work to try and raise money for a hurting country. Here’s the info:
You can see things I’ve created at: designcoyote.com (for designs) and
I am offering: A set of 20 icons OR a WordPress Design from my DC Shop (either for WordPress or to be modified as an LJ design if possible)
Fandoms (if appropriate): For icons, it can be any fandom.
Additional Info (optional): As with most others, I would prefer if you gave me the images to work with for the icons – they are yours, so wouldn’t you like to have the say in what they look like?
Designs currently up in my Design Coyote shop can be viewed here. If you want a blogger design, make sure to choose one with that option, I won’t be modifying them for blogger for this bid (only to LJ).
Starting Bid: $15
If you’re interested, please go here to comment and make a bid – bidding will end January 20th, so make sure to get in fast. All proceeds that I make will go to the charity of your choice, and (taking a leaf from Leigh), I’ll match the winning bid with my proceeds going to UNICEF. Let’s try and give a little back to the world, shall we? Let’s do it!
Sixteen years ago at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, Severn Cullis-Suzuki was twelve years old. The founder of the Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO), she was there to speak to all the adults and tell them exactly what was on her mind.
She is now thirty years old, a published author, a celebrated environmental activist, and her words ring true to this very day. We still have a lot to learn.
(Many thanks to BitRebels for the introducing me to this video.)
I could say it doesn’t matter. That we’ll get them next time. That this doesn’t mean anything in the long run. I could try and convince you that this was a mistake and people really don’t think this way. But I’d really just be trying to convince myself. My faith is wavering a little under these staggering statistics. 31 times gay marriage showed up on the ballot. And despite all the knocking on doors, all the blog posts, and rallies and pride events and positive media attention, all the love and support we received, 31 times, THIRTY-ONE times. We were shot down. Denied the rights that every human being should be born with. This isn’t about religion. Marriage is no longer conducted only within a church. This isn’t about showing off wedding rings and picking out floral centerpieces. This isn’t about anybody else but us. Our rights to be with the ones we love. This is about people recognizing that as an accepted reality. This is about our government giving us the basic rights that other married couples have. It’s about commitment, and family, and dedication. It’s about sharing a bond and being able to proudly introduce a husband or wife. It’s about not being afraid. And sure, it’s about the tax benefits, and the employment benefits, and government benefits, and being able to see each other in the hospital, and buying a house together, and filing for adoption together, and being seen as a real, honest-to-goodness family, but most of all, most of all it’s about Love.
I could say that none of it really matters because Love isn’t something anyone can deny you. It won’t stop us from carrying on with our lives. It won’t cause us to break down and decide that it’s better off being straight than gay. I’m not going to run away and push my head in the sand and pretend I never liked girls. So it shouldn’t matter, right? I should just brush it off. But I can’t. It does matter. It matters to me and my girlfriend and every couple out there that is being treated like a second-class citizen. And what for? Why are we being treated with such disrespect? Like we’re not good enough to love? Because of bigotry. Because despite our freedom for and from religion, we are still being forced into a box controlled by what other people believe. We are not allowed to have our beliefs if they interfere with the majority. There always has to be sides, it seems, and our government thinks it’s fair to allow the majority to dictate how everyone should live their lives. Our country is slowly losing its identity as the Melting Pot. Conformity is the majority and if you don’t fit in that box, you’re shot down.
It does matter. Losing 31 out of 31 times matters. It’s a heavy weight on the heart. They whisper “Someday” but I’m sick of waiting for “Someday” to arrive. We deserve it now.
But patience is a virtue, and so is perseverance. We’ll keep fighting, keep talking, keep waving our rainbow flags in the air defiantly. We’ll hoot and holler in your face at every parade and every protest. I’ll keep living the life I’m living. I’ll keep waking up next to my girlfriend every morning and remembering every moment just why I fell in love with her. And I’ll keep questioning why. Why are we not equal? Why are we not seen as a real family? And I’ll keep looking for answers.
And I’ll keep telling myself it’s okay. We’ll get them next time.
