Skip to main content
Tag

sexuality

The Heartbreaking Story of Matthew Shepard

By Gay, HistoryNo Comments

In the late 90s, a story gained international news coverage: The story of a young student who was tortured and then murdered for being gay in America. This story was the story of Matthew Shepard:

Matthew Shepard was a young student in Wyoming, America. He was also a gay man. On 6th October 1998, two men approached Matthew at a bar and after a discussion he agreed to get a lift home with them. Instead they beat him senseless resulting in multiple life-threatening injuries, tortured him and then left him to die in agony. They robbed Matthew, tied him to a fence and left him to die.

Matthew was left there, drifting in and out of consciousness for 18 hours. Matthew was then discovered by a cyclist who called the Police. Matthew was still alive, barely, but had slipped into a coma after being in what must have been in excruciating pain. Matthew had two skull fractures, which had left his brain too damaged to keep his heart beating and lungs breathing independently. In the days that followed, Matthew never regained consciousness and on 12th October 1998, at the age of just 21 years old he died.

The perpetrators of Matthew’s brutal and shocking murder admitted that his sexuality and their plans to rob him were their motivations for the attack and eventual murder. It later came out that they had pretended to be gay in order to gain his trust and persuade him to go with them. They both received life sentences without the opportunity for parole.

Matthews mother later set up The Matthew Shepard Foundation, in his memory. I’ve wanted to write Matthew’s story for a long time.

So, why now? Because with Donald Trump as President of America, I fear there will be another Matthew Shepard in America.

Donald Trump is already targeting the LGBT community with his rhetoric. And. He’s. Only. Just. Got. Power. I can only see Donald Trump’s behaviour getting worse.

I find it absolutely incredible that Donald Trump got into power once, let alone again. Donald Trump is a billionaire and influential man. I hope the American democracy isn’t as corrupt as it looks from the outside right now. I also hope, but highly doubt, that other leaders of the world will pull him up on his bad behaviour towards the LGBT community.

Write soon,

Antony

mental-health-wisdom-banner
Share on Social Media:

Themes from Dr Who (Series 11)

By Happiness & Joy, Thinking, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
dr-who-2018-series-11-0

Image From & Copyright © BBC, 2018.

I’ve loved the most recent season of Dr Who. The lead role has been brilliantly played by Jodie Whittaker. There was some controversy about the role being played by a woman, to me I just thought: why is it even an issue?

There have been some fantastic themes through out the series. Here are the themes I’ve spotted in each episode:

Episode 1 – The Woman Who Fell to Earth

  • Diversity – It should be recognised and celebrated. Whether diversity comes from race, learning difficulty or sexuality (mentioned in episode 2). Shown in character representation, characters universal acceptance and appreciation different others.
  • We’re stronger working together as a team, than we are as separate individuals.
  • Only idiots carry knifes – A direct quote from the Doctor, probably in direct response to the rise in knife crime in the capitol London.

Episode 2 – The Ghost Monument

  • A Leader reassures, motivates and has the backs of their team. Shown in how Dr Who treats members of her team.
  • Brains Beat Bullets – A direct quote from the Doctor. Prior to this Doctor states: You’ve got to outthink the enemy. and after the direct quote above another: Guns make things worse.

Episode 3 – Rosa

  • Standing up for Equality – The story of Rosa Parks (see The Story of Rosa Parks) is all about equality and civil rights.
  • How dangerous and stupid white supremacy views are, including the dehumanising affect they have.
  • How racism affects the victims. Shown through character conversation behind the bin.
  • How a single person can change the world and the universe forever.

Episode 4 – Arachnids in the UK

  • Is he Ed Sheeran? – A direct quote from the Doctor. Even the Doctor knows who Ed Sheeran is, even if she doesn’t know what he looks like.
  • Irresponsible businesses and their leaders that care about the bottom line – profit – rather than doing the right thing are bad for all. Their employees, citizens living close to the businesses and the community as a whole.
  • Guns are bad.
  • Cruelty is never necessary.
  • Treat all living things with dignity and respect.
  • Togetherness is better than loneliness.
  • Grief takes time, lots of time.
  • Team TARDIS – Friendship that is built on mutual respect and coming together in a crisis, is too valuable to let go of and should be cherished.

Episode 5 – The Tsuranga Conundrum

  • The Doctor doesn’t mind admitting when she’s wrong.
  • The Doctor see’s all problems as puzzles to be solved.
  • The Doctor loves anti-matter drives, the concept and the actuality.
  • Dad’s don’t have to be perfect. But they should be there for their child and involved in their life.

mental-health-wisdom-banner

dr-who-2018-series-11-1

Image From & Copyright © BBC, 2018.

Episode 6 – Demons of the Punjab

  • A fixed event in time can’t be stopped.
  • Things are not always what they seem.
  • There’s nothing worse than when ordinary people lose their minds.
  • The Doctor believes in love in all its forms. The Doctor thinks love is a form of hope – Direct quote from The Doctor.

Episode 7 – Kerblam!

  • Always answer a call for help. Observed by The Doctor always answering calls for help.
  • The best managers, the really good ones, value their staff, and know instinctively if someone’s in trouble or if they need help. A direct quote from The Doctor.
  • You should be worthy of the job or position you hold.
  • The Doctor doesn’t like bullies, conspiracies or danger, said to Yaz by The Doctor.

Episode 8 – The Witchfinders

  • History has sometimes been hard to women.
  • We’re all the same. We want certainty, security. We want to believe that people are either evil or heroic, but that’s not how people are. A Direct Quote from The Doctor.
  • True knowledge has to be earned.
  • Start with the mysteries of the heart.

Episode 9 – It Takes You Away

  • The Doctor loves her sonic.
  • Some people will sacrifice almost anything to see and be with dead loved ones.
  • The living must let go of the dead and continue to live their life. They can still remember them, it’s just not good to live in the past.
  • Friends help friends face up to the truth, not hide from it. A direct quote from the Doctor.
  • The sheep revolution is just over 100 years away :).

Episode 10 – The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

  • Doctor Who doesn’t like vengeful murder or the talk or the threatening of it.
  • The Doctor is fine destroying anything that can be rebuilt. Buildings and the like.
  • Following blind faith is wrong.
  • Rather than revenge, be the bigger man. It takes great strength to do this.

My Hopes for Series 12
More aliens and travel to other worlds. Essentially more Sci-Fi.

Write soon,

Antony

mental-health-wisdom-banner



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


Share on Social Media:

Did You Know? (Part 6 – Technology)

By Technology, The WebNo Comments
did-you-know

Did You Know?

This is the sixth and final in a series of Did You Know? blog posts. Each blog post gives fascinating facts on a particular topic. In part 1 the topic was science. In part 2 the topic was history. In part 3 the topic was geography. In part 4 the topics were art & music. In part 5 the topic was animals.

Today, I give you ten facts about Technology:

1. The first mobile phone call was made by Martin Cooper in 1973.

2. The first iPhone was released in the UK in 2007. Today there are more than 682m iPhones in the world.

3. Alan Turing is most well-known for being an excellent code-breaker in World War 2. He happened to be gay and was castrated by the UK state for his sexuality. But he also proposed founding theories about how to make computers work and computer science.

4. The World Wide Web (WWW) was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. Today £1.7trillion is spent online in a year, 3m emails are sent every second (mostly SPAM) and there is countless amounts of data on the internet.

5. The X-ray was invented by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895. The idea for the CT (Computed Tomography) scanner was first imagined by Godfrey Hounsfield in 1969. Hounsfield presented his idea to Dr. James Ambrose and they worked together to make his idea a reality. The MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner was developed by a number of people. The X-ray, CT scanner and MRI scanner have all revolutionised medicine, by allowing doctors insight to what it going on in a patient’s body, without the need for invasive surgery.

6. Google deals with 1 billion searches a day.

7. Someone using a computer will blink 7 times a minute, rather than the normal 20 times a minute. This is because they are concentrating more on the screen.

8. Technology of Sci-Fi TV shows and films is now becoming a reality. For example, in Star Trek computers respond to verbal commands and its responses were relatively intelligent. Today we have Siri (Apple), Alexa (Amazon), Contina (Windows) and Android Voice Commands (Google/Android).

9. The operating system Linux is huge across servers, computers, tablets and smartphones. The chances are you use it without even realising. Linux is on every Android device, along with being on most serves (computers that host websites) in the world. Facebook, Google and Pinterest all run on Linux servers.

10. The people at Wired.com were the first to come up with banner advertisements, which are now used on most commercial websites.

Write soon,

Antony

References
Know Your Mobile – The History of Mobile Phones From 1973 To 2008: The Handsets That Made It ALL Happen
BBC News – Apple iPhone debuts in UK stores
{Life} Buzz – 25 Things You Didn’t Know About Technology… Almost No One Knows About #7.
Alan Turing: The Enigma
The Daily Beast – The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero
Computer Hope – When was the first computer invented?
World Wide Web Foundation – History of the Web
Sunday Express – Top ten facts about…the internet
How Stuff Works – Science – Who invented the X-ray?
Eureka – When Hounsfield Met Ambrose, The Invention of Computed Tomography
Thought Co. – Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI
Did you know? Technology fast facts
Techlila – 32 Computer Facts and Interesting Facts About Technology
The Guardian – Technology – Voice Recognition
WIRED – Linux Took Over The Web. Now, It’s Taking Over The World

mental-health-wisdom-banner



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


Share on Social Media:

Proud of Tom Daley

By The Web, ThinkingNo Comments

I know it’s old news now; but Tom Daley recently revealed that he is in a relationship with a man. He made this disclosure on this YouTube video:

My initial reaction was pride. All out gay or bisexual men have had to have these difficult conversations at some point, so I definitely empathised. These conversations are hard enough, but for Tom it must have been even more difficult given his position.

Tom is an Athlete in the Sporting Profession; and how many out gay professional Athlete’s or sports people do you know? Gareth Thomas the retired Rugby Player comes to mind, but he only came out as gay after he retired.

Then there’s Robbie Rogers a US Football Player, who used to play in the UK but no longer does. It is unbelievable that of the estimated 4,500 professional Football Players in the UK, he is the only gay or bisexual one. Statistics apparently show that 1 in 10 men are gay or bisexual, so it is likely that there are many professional footballers as well as other Athlete’s and sports people that haven’t come out.

The reason Athlete’s and sports people don’t come out is the stigma still attached with being gay in the sport industry. Professional sports people worry about losing fans, sponsors and ultimately their jobs. Tom will have been aware of all this and is very brave for risking all.

Tom Daley Christmas

I’ve read many journalistic reactions and opinion pieces on his disclosure. I’ve also read many supportive messages to him, along with some quite blatantly homophobic ones.

I wasn’t just proud that Tom had come out as being in a relationship with a man, but that he had put himself in a position of emotional vulnerability in search for acceptance. Acceptance is an innate human desire and in order to gain acceptance you have to let people know you.

Tom Daley Working I have pondered if Tom deliberately avoided using the words gay or bisexual, or even if these words needed to be said. I’m sure that Tom coming out will be a great role model to any gay teens struggling with their sexuality – what it means for them and their life.

If I were to give a message to Tom it would be this:

Thank you for sharing who you are. I wish you every happiness, you deserve it. Keep the people in your life that accept, love and care for you. The people that don’t this feel this way – don’t worry or waste your time thinking about them. Just keep working, living and loving who you are.

Published by: The Gay UK on Friday 17th January 2014.

Take care,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


Share on Social Media:
×