Who owns the Rainbow?

Is Ken Ham supporting Pride?

 Ken Ham a bigot of questionable sincerity and sanity, has, with the help of government funds made a model of the mythical ark,  The world flood and ark myth originated as far as we know in the Sumerian mythology recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh. 

 Ken Ham has lit up his model of the ark with rainbow colored lights, but not in support of the LGBT community, he is using the rainbow to try and promote hate and  discord.

 He has claimed that Christians need to take back the rainbow from the LGBT community because he claims that the christian god owns it!

 Firstly this man is wrong, in that Christians are free to use the rainbow, the LGBT community do not own it any more than any one god does. We do receive royalty's every time someone uses a rainbow or sees one in the sky.

 Secondly the rainbow flag created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 is a symbol uniting all people, of all races and religions in peace and the acceptance of the natural diversity of humanity. The colors of the Rainbow flag represent Sex, Life, Healing, Sunlight, Nature, Magic, Art, Serenity and Spirit, all things Ken Ham is against apparently.

  Lets just have a quick look at some actual facts that disprove Ken Hams outrageous claim that his lone god created and owns the rainbow.

 In Aboriginal mythology the rainbows are giant divine serpents with various names and attributes, there are two of great note here; Ungud is said to be androgynous or transgender while another Rainbow Serpent Angamunggi is transgender. 

 In Armenian mythology the rainbow is the belt worn by Tir a sun god of knowledge.

 In Aztec mythology Xochipilli is associated with rainbows and is the god of homosexuality.

 In Greek mythology Iris is the personification of the rainbow and works as liasion between gods and men.

 In Hindu mythology the rainbow is the actual lightning arrow shooting bow of the god Indra. 

 In Japanese mythology rainbows are used for ancestor spirits to travel the realms.

 In Maori mythology the Moon goddess Hina created the rainbow to allow her mortal husband to return to the mortal world.

 In Navajo mythology rainbows are seen as paths that allow holy spits to travel between the mortal and divine realms.

 In Norse mythology the rainbow bridge connects our mortal world with the realm of the gods.

 In Sumerian mythology the gay Gilgamesh from which the ark story originated, the rainbow sanctioned war and was associated with life and immortality.

 There are of course many other instances of the rainbow used in non-christian mythology. His misrepresentation of the facts show Ken Ham has very little knowledge of religion and probably shouldn't be consulted on spiritual issues.

 

 Obviously Ken Ham is just attacking the LGBT community is a publicity stunt to re-engage with his bigoted homophobic base and to try and bring attention to his failing ark model. 
 The Model has previously been criticised for its dodging of taxes, low attendance, highly questionable claims and discriminatory hiring polices.

Book Review: Colouring the Rainbow

Colouring the Rainbow

Blak Queer and Trans Perspectives

Life Stories and Essays by First Nations People of Australia

Editor:                          Dino Hodge

Publisher:                     Wakefield Press

Type:                              Soft Cover

Pages:                             252

Genre:                            non-fiction

Published:                      2015

ISBN:                              9781743053935

 This book is exactly as described on the cover, we have stories and essays about being both Aboriginal and Queer. 
 While some of the essays delve a little too deeply into "UNI-speak" for me personally, i still found them interesting reads. 

 The real gems here though are the true life stories, we see Australians fighting for basic human rights in our modern world while struggling to keep their inherent spirituality. 
We hear of people who survived horrific accounts of homophobia / transphobia, in isolated outback town. 
We hear gut wrenching stories of bullying, violence, discrimination and the depression and suicide that this can cause. Reading this it reminds me jut how important the Safe Schools program is, and how instead of being scraped it should become mandatory in all schools. Surely the fact that the vocal opponents of Safe Schools  do not want LGBTQ children to survive until adulthood, is a perfect example of why Safe Schools is so needed. Sorry i digress.

 We also find within tales of acceptance, and did you know that before invasion/colonisation at least some tribes accepted LGBTQ people as they recognised the natural diversity of human sexuality. If you want to talk about traditional marriage in Australia you would have to start here.

 We hear how at least one contributor is trying to make amends for their own homophobic behavior, which they adopted at school as a way to protect themselves, yet another example of the need for Safe Schools.

 One poor soul even drew the reportedly malicious attentions of the, (legally confirmed) racist and  homophobic (by his own words) Andrew Bolt. you may remember Andrew Bolt from his recent major hussy-fit after he (by his own admission) violently "assaulted" someone for merely playing a prank on him. Andrew Bolt's defenders are saying that Bolt should escape charges because Bolt's homophobia runs so deep that the mere physical contact with glitter enrages him into hysterical violent attacks.
I should note that as of this writing charges of assault have yet to be applied to him, and i believe he is trying to play the victim in this encounter, it seems apparent that the mainstream media are quite willing to side with him.
 But that event was only recent and is not related to the matter in this book, it would appear Andrew Bolt has a long history of seemingly attacking minority's while being a very sensitive snowflake himself. 

 Please for your own safety do not try and enlighten Andrew Bolt by sprinkling glitter about him or his person. In fact its best not to glitter anyone against their wishes, no matter how disgusting they are.

 

 The book has an extensive notes section, glossary, bibliography and index. I would highly recommend this book if your interested in Australian history, LGBTQ issue, or Aboriginal Australians.
 Every commentator on Aboriginal, or LGBTQ issues in Australia should read this book before next opening their mouths, or putting finger to keys.

 Why does the media consult homophobes about LGBT issues and racists about Aboriginal issues? It just seems ass-backwards to me, why don't we instead see the opinions of scholars and the people these issues actually effect. It would be like the media getting the opinion of the Nazi groups every time a local Jewish school held a fete, no one wants or needs their opinion!

                                         Helpful Links:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community Website. 

NAIDOC Week

ACON Aids council of NSW

QuAC QLD Aids council

Open Doors Youth Service

Beyond Blue 

Australian Pride Network

Bigot Point: Straight Pride

Bigot Point: Straight Pride

 Recently a very misinformed person commented on one of my YouTube videos saying they had straight pride. Now i am not insulting the person here, they didn't understand the difference between gender and sexuality, they claimed sexuality to be a lifestyle choice, and strangely them having straight pride somehow made me a "straightophobe' and so on. 

 One could argue that someone with access to the internet has no excuse to be so ignorant. However we don't know the age of the person or if they have very strict filters on their browser or have very restricted or supervised internet use. We just don't know so we should give that person (and others like them) the benefit of the doubt.

 My response to the straight pride thing was simply that i didn't care, as i didn't see anything inherently bigoted about having straight pride. 

 I didn't understand how you could really justify it though, i mean what obstacles have straight people overcome because of their sexuality, that gay people also don't have to deal with? 

 What areas of our predominantly heterosexual dominated society oppress, vilify or discriminate against straight people for being straight. 

 It just seemed a little bit silly and i wondered if there were any people who claimed 'straight pride' who were not also homophobic? If so what exactly are they so proud of? 

 I kind of get it in that straight people dominate most of society but is that really something to be proud of while gay people don't even have equal rights? What kind of person would be proud of that? Again i suppose they would have to be proud of homophobia as well.

 There was the #HeterosexualPrideDay recently but that was set up as satire, though sadly some did take it very seriously.

 So if you are into this whole straight pride thing and are not homophobic please comment and answer some of the questions i have asked. 
 At the moment i am highly doubtful that anyone celebrating 'straight pride' isn't also against gay people, but i would love to be proven wrong.

 Just as an aside i am way more likely to respond to comments if they are coherent, not insulting, and make a valid point or ask an interesting question.

 For more info on Australia's largest pride parade click on the link to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi gras. 

Some other Pride resources:
 San Francisco pride
 NYC Pride 
 Sydney Pride 
 Australian Pride Network

Other Bigot Points:

"Children need both a biological Mother and Father."

"Same sex marriage isn't biblical marriage."

"homosexuality is a choice."

"Same-Sex marriage isn't Traditional Marriage"

"Homosexuality is Unnatural"

 "Marriage Equality threatens religious freedom"

"Same-sex marriage isn't natural marriage."

 "Marriage equality will destroy free speech"

 "Same-sex marriage will be forced on everyone."

"Marriage is about procreation."

"Gay marriage leads to bestiality."

 

Response to the Orlando terrorism that targeted the gay community.

 First i want to express my heartfelt condolences to the victims and their family's of the Orlando hate crime massacre. I am in shock, as many Australians are, we can only watch on in horror as we learn more about this horrific event. I wasn't actually going to comment, but i felt i had no choice as my sadness turned to anger.

 I read in disgust as Trump tweeted without mentioning the fact this attack targeted gays, and reiterated his plan to ban Muslims, with no mention of banning homophobia or military grade weapons.
Trump hasn't been a champion in the fight against homophobia (or LGBT hate) to say the least. His party, the Republican Party had presidential candidates un-apologetically attending "kill the gays" rally's. I doubt he will address his parties homophobia.

 I watched in utter disappointment as our Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull used the tragedy to applaud his own "anti-terrorism" measures and somehow managed to not mention it being a hate crime against the LGBT community in a gay bar during pride month.
 He also failed to mention correcting his own parties homophobia; He didn't decide to protect safe schools, he didn't denounce his fellow Liberals homophobia,not even those who attended anti-gay hate rally's, and he didn't promise marriage equality.

UPDATE: Mr Turnbull has after some time made a new statement that does mention the gays. But still didn't substantially address the problem of homophobia that leads to violence. Lets hope his assurances are not empty.
 

 Make no mistake it is homophobia (transphobia, biphobia) that causes violent bigots to target LGBT people. It is the same homophobia we see in Australia perpetuated by anti-gay organizations.  We need to stop the hate.

  One could imagine these organization today, not even 24 hours after the tragedy, might release press releases condemning violence against gays, maybe some of them might make the connection that there particular brand of hate fuels this kind of violence. One could hope that some would apologise for there actions and maybe start working for peace and inclusion. 
 Maybe some of them did, maybe somewhere some bigots are realising there on the wrong side and are making plans to make amends for there past mistakes.

  Not Lyle Shelton of the Australian "christian" lobby (ACL) though, no not him. He took the opportunity to promote his and other bigots attacks of a safe schools program, designed to reduce bullying in schools and LGBT youth suicide. You know a program trying to prevent the kind of homophobia that leads to violent hate crimes. I shouldn't be surprised the ACL is a hate group and their leaders say and do a lot of deplorable things, but their really scraping the bottom of the barrel doing this today. 

 But he's not alone, Peter Madden of the Family First party, a gay hate group that actually has i think one person in our government, and no they don't really put family's first.
 That he could say such homophobic nonsense not just on the same day, but in the same tweet as he mentions the Orlando hate massacre is so mindbogglingly disgusting i am really struggling for words.

Support Victims of Pulse Shooting

 

If you want to help in another way then please contact your local government candidates, your churches, your schools, let them know you do not support homophobia. 

Consider supporting equality with your upcoming vote.

 At the very least please support your LGBT family and friends during this time and make a conscious decision to fight homophobia in all its forms.