WE ARE ALL ONE!

There is nothing complicated about ending discrimination in the workplace!  Whether the discrimination is against people of colour, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious beliefs – there is no place for it in the workplace.  So why are American companies finding it so difficult to end discrimination against the LGBTQ community in the workplace?  Could it be because many people still consider homosexuality a deviant behaviour and a choice people make?  Or is it simply because of peoples religious beliefs?

Writing as a human being who happens to be a homosexual, I don’t believe that I woke up one day and said, “I think I will try to have intercourse with a man today.”  I also didn’t ask for the constant bullying and verbal assaults by being called ‘faggot’, ‘gaylord’, ‘cocksucker’, ‘poof’, just to name a few.  I didn’t instigate it when a group of guys drove by and whipped bottles at me from their car just because I was walking in the ‘gay village’.  I would want to ensure this type of behaviour did not transfer into my work environment, why would I not be allowed this type of protection.

As a human being – I do my best to treat people as how I want to be treated; with respect, dignity and kindness, that isn’t too much to ask.  I give the same treatment that is given to me.  I can’t believe that so many people are still biased and show so much hate towards people who are no different than they are.  We may have different appearances but we are all derived from the same divine entity.  Religion is not the authority and should not dictate how a person should be treated.  You can’t ostracize women, people of colour, those who practice different religions or have different spiritual practices, homosexuals or anyone else who challenges religious ideologies – we should embrace this.  Engage in dialogue and come to a resolution that we are essentially the same and want to create positive change everywhere.  Those who feel different may have issues they need to resolve within themselves – racism, anger, fear, homophobia, etc.

The civil rights movement began because people of colour were being mistreated, disrespected and killed just because of the colour of their skin.  Rosa Parks didn’t sit at the front of the bus because her legs were tired – she sat at the front because she was tired of being treated as a lesser human than everyone else who wasn’t of colour.  Martin Luther King Jr., Mohammed Gandhi, Representative John Lewis, Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harriett Tubman and so many others were activists for peace, equality, justice and positive change.

Just like the civil rights movement, there have been many individuals who are directly and indirectly responsible in demanding equality for the LGBTQ community.  People like Barney Frank, Dan Savage, Michelangelo Signorile, Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde, Roseanne Barr, Madonna, Cher, Harvey Milk, Tony Reis, Rosie O’Donnell, Bob Brown, Sven Robinson, Li Yinhe, Rama Yade, Magnus Hirschfeld, Shaleen Rakesh, Arsham Parsi, Patria Jiménez, Nikolay Alexeyev, David Kato, Jeremy Bentham – these individuals, and so many more, have given so much (even their lives) to ensure that gays, lesbians, trans-gendered, bisexual and queer people are treated with equality, dignity and respect.

Try not to look at people based on their colour, gender, what they believe or who they love.  Judge them based on their actions and how they treat others.  Do they show compassion, are they respectful and non-judgmental and are they caring?  LOVE, COMPASSION and CARING are attributes that create positive change in the world so let’s start a REVOLUTION OF LOVE!

Together, we can make the world a more postive one!

INSPIRING QUOTES

Here are some inspiring words from some of very inspiring people:

NELSON MANDELA

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination”

“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur.  You take the front line when there is danger.  Then people will appreciate your leadership”

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.  If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”

DR. WAYNE DYER

Wayne Dyer, PH.D., is an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development. He’s the author of over 30 books, has created many audio programs and videos, and has appeared on thousands of television and radio shows.

“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours”

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”

“What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds”

LOUISE L. HAY

RECENTLY DUBBED “the closest thing to a living saint” by the Australian media, Louise L. Hay is also known as one of the founders of the self-help movement. Her first book, Heal Your Body, was published in 1976, long before it was fashionable to discuss the connection between the mind and body.

“I find that when we really love and accept and approve of ourselves exactly as we are, then everything in life works”

“If you are willing to do the mental work, almost anything can be healed”

“All the events you have experienced in your lifetime up to this moment have been created by your thoughts and beliefs you have held in the past. They were created by the thoughts and words you used yesterday, last week, last month, last year, 10, 20, 30, 40, or more years ago, depending on how old you are”

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer. Six of her ten published books have been New York Times Best Sellers. Four of these have been #1 New York Times Best Sellers. A Return to Love is considered a must-read of The New Spirituality. A paragraph from that book, beginning “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure...” is considered an anthem for a contemporary generation of seekers.

“Forgiveness is not always easy.  At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it.  And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness”

“The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world”

“Love is what we were born with.  Fear is what we learned”

BILL CLINTON

William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001.

“If you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes.  But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person.  It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you.  The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit”

“Let me say this as clearly as I can:  No matter how sharp a grievance or how deep a hurt, there is no justification for killing innocents”

“We must teach our children to resolve their conflicts with words, not with weapons”

WARREN BUFFET

Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century.

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago”

“Emotional makeup is more important than technical skill”

DAVID SUZUKI

David Takayoshi Suzuki, is a Japanese Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph. D in zoology from the University of Chicago  in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his TV and radio series and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host of the popular and long-running CBC Television science magazine, The Nature of Things, seen in over forty nations. He is also well-known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment.

 

“Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism”

 

“If we pollute the air, water and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us”

 

“For the sake of our health, our children and grandchildren and even our economic well-being, we must make protecting the planet our top priority”

 

 

INGRID NEWKIRK

 

Ingrid Newkirk is an English-born British American animal rights activist and the president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the world’s largest animal rights organization.

 

“When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy”

 

“Being asked to support humane meat means being asked to support the suffering of animals in transport, to approve of treatment that causes them palpable fear, their bodies shaking and their eyes wide as saucers, as they are slung by their legs into crates that are slammed onto the back of a truck”

 

“I think if you are against cruelty and you look at what happens to animals in slaughterhouses and on factory farms, you have to be completely against eating meat”

 

JOHN LENNON 

 

John Winston Ono Lennon, was an English musician, singer and songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as a founder member of the Beatles, the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in the history of popular music.

 

“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans”

 

“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky.  I believe that what people call God is something in all of us.  I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right.  It’s just that the translations have gone wrong”

 

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace”

 

WOODY HARRELSON

 

Actor, environmental activist, ethical vegan and raw foodist and supporter for the legalization of marijuana and hemp.

 

“The war against terrorism is terrorism”

 

“I think my best skill in this whole deal is as a conduit to try to bring people together, because I think it’s in our unity that we’ll have the greatest strength”

 

“The common man or women, whether they are Israeli or Palestinian or Catholic or Iraqi or American, the common man just wants to live in peace and justice in a clean environment.  When we look around the world and we see that is not the case, we know the will of the majority is not being listened to, that’s the first sign that our system is broken”

 

“There are a helluva lot more of us who care about our environment in the world than we realize.  We’re the majority, and we can do something about that” 

 

HARVEY MILK

 

Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

 

“Hope will never be silent”

 

“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door”

 

“It takes no compromising to give people their rights.  It takes no money to respect the individual.  It takes no survey to remove repressions”

 

“Coming out is the most political thing you can do”

 

REPRESENTATIVE JOHN LEWIS

 

John Robert Lewis is an American politician and civil rights leader. He is the U.S. Representative for Georgia’s 5th congressional district, serving since 1987, and is the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation.

 

“I say to people today, ‘You must be prepared if you believe in something.   If you believe in something, you have to go for it.  As individuals, we may not live to see the end”

 

“When I was 15 years old in the tenth grade, I heard Martin Luther King, Jr.  Three years later, when I was 18, I met Dr. King and we became friends.  Two years after that I became very involved in the civil rights movement.  I was in college at the time.  As I got more and more involved, I saw politics as a means of bringing about change”

 

“If you’re not hopeful and optimistic, then you just give up.  You have to take that long hard look and just believe that if your consistent, you will succeed”

 

These quotes and words come from people who were and continue to be passionate about what they strongly believe in, whether that is our environment, politics, animals, human rights and freedom – they have all been and continue to be conduits for positive change.

 

Together we can make the world a more positive one!