1. Last week, the Prime Minister invited more than 150 activists, campaigners and celebrities to Downing Street for the annual LGBT reception. Peter Tatchell was interviewed by The Guardian Newspaper about why he wasn't invited in the year that the UK has seen gay marriage legalised and given the fact that Peter has been campaigning for this equal right for 21 years. I did not know much of what was written about him in the article, but he was already a hero of mine since attempting to make a citizen's arrest or Robert Mugabe in 1999. I am in awe of people like him who have the commitment and self-discipline to live their principles in their everyday life ....""To me a suffering to my family, my neighbour, or a stranger in a faraway country - it's all the same."
2. Penny(Joyful) at SNAP THAT is another human being who lives their principles. Like Peter she is committed to helping other human beings and bringing more joy into their lives whether near or far from her, but especially the people in Kenya. As well as sponsoring individual children and young people, she is also very involved in raising awareness of the work of Jonah and the Kenya Missions of Hope. Currently Penny is asking us to share her appeal to continue her financial support for 21 year old Elvis for the practical placement and final year of a Medical Diploma at University. Please take a look and help if you would like and are able to. Penny also asked those of us unable to help at the moment to share and raise awareness.
3. Also in July President Obama asked African nations to grant equal protection to all people regardless of their sexual orientation. Sadly he was criticised for this by religious leaders and elders in Kenya and other African countries for calling for equal rights. I despair at this and yet am full of hope at the same time, when I know there are young adults in Africa trying to be open as they try to make a better future for their country. David Kuria was Kenya's first openly gay political candidate though sadly he had to withdraw I believe. Full of hope also when I hear well respected religious leaders like Desmond Tutu speaking out against injustices against people because their sexual orientation. Only this week he continued his support for equality across the world as part of a UN global public education campaign for LGBT equality. I love his words quoted below from his book "God is not a Christian: and other provocations" :
"I am proud that in South Africa, when we won the chance to build our own new constitution, the human rights of all have been explicitly enshrined in our laws. My hope is that one day this will be the case all over the world, and that all will have equal rights. For me this struggle is a seamless robe. Opposing apartheid was a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination against women is a matter of justice. Opposing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a matter of justice.It is also a matter of love. Every human being is precious. We are all -- all of us -- part of God's family. We all must be allowed to love each other with honor. Yet all over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are persecuted. We treat them as pariahs and push them outside our communities. We make them doubt that they too are children of God. This must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy. We blame them for what they are."
- Desmond Tutu(2011)
5. Following debate about the silence, tweeters have been tweeting the names of #inspiringwomen instead. Audre Lorde, comes to mind; Alice Walker also; Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams also. So many inspirational women who would not be silenced and changed the world.
4. Sue Marsh writes about the #twittersilence that was due to happen today, and about why she is not taking part. Another women writes here about why silence is a "terrible idea" even as a protest against abuse and intimidation. And here is Malala Yousafzai speaking out at the UN on her 16th birthday. Not silenced.
5. Following debate about the silence, tweeters have been tweeting the names of #inspiringwomen instead. Audre Lorde, comes to mind; Alice Walker also; Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams also. So many inspirational women who would not be silenced and changed the world.
-Audre Lorde“I was going to die, sooner or later, whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.... What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language."
I began to ask each time: "What's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?" Unlike women in other countries, our breaking silence is unlikely to have us jailed, "disappeared" or run off the road at night. Our speaking out will irritate some people, get us called bitchy or hypersensitive and disrupt some dinner parties. And then our speaking out will permit other women to speak, until laws are changed and lives are saved and the world is altered forever."
Let's all keep speaking out about what matters to us in making the world a kinder more compassionate and safe world for our children and grandchildren.
Who has inspired you to speak out?
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