Victory through Unity

        We are constantly arguing about sexual orientation and how it has affected society. In response, many organizations, non-profit or for-profit, have been created. Earlier this week I came by this amazing organization that helps athletes who are part of the LGBT community. The organization is called Athlete Ally and it creates awareness toward athletes who combat homophobic remarks from their coaches, team members, family, fans, etc. This organization also promotes unity and respect from each of the groups mentioned above. I support these types of organizations because they create hope for this misrepresented community. 

       I have many friends who are athletes and are apart of the LGBT community who face horrible situations constantly throughout their life. I can remember the first time my cousin came out and admitted he was gay. My reaction to him was, "but you are a football player!" Like my cousin's situation, most athletes are not accepted to be a part of the LGBT community because they are seen as they role models for children athletes. Now that I know more about this community and I am aware and accept their preferences I am able to support my friends and my cousin. The expectations people have about athletes should not interfere their happiness. It is these organizations that allow those athletes to be children's role models by showing them that no one should be judged for what they believe or for who they are. This is a bigger lesson future athletes need to be taught. 

Link: http://www.athleteally.com

Guest Speaker; LGBT community

         I completely agree with everything professor Lambiase pointed out in class. One of my closest friends is gay and he tells me the difficulties he goes through. One of them is finding organizations/companies that support people like him. He tells me that not many companies or organizations promote their support for the LGBT community. Well, I was surprised to see the ads that professor Lambiase showed us in class. I had never noticed the hidden images or words that some company ads use in order to catch the LGBT community's attention.
       I believe it is great that commercials now involve the LGBT community, but I still think we have a long way to go before fully accepting this community. I say this because most of the images or words that are in the ads and commercials are small and barely noticeable creating the gay vague as professor Lambiase called it. I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for the society. Some organizations may not want to loose their publics that don't agree with the LGBT community, but may also want to involve that specific community into their brand, idea, etc. Whatever the justification is I believe we should not be afraid to promote our support for the LGBT community. That way people like my friend will be able to interact with society and its resources in an equal way the heterosexual people do.

Link: http://www.glaad.org/advertising/library/birdhouse-0 (Glaad.org)

Image of women airbrushed from IKEA catalog

       Tuesday IKEA was accused of removing a woman from their furniture catalog. Of course like many I became upset at the gender inequality that still occurs to this day. It is disturbing for me to see how companies that have influence on people undergo such low actions. By allowing this treatment toward women we are saying it is ok for gender inequality and that we do not need to progress from that. Living in a country where freedom is emphasized you would think we could change this sexist view toward women but I can see we have a long way to go.
       I can recall when I was president of my church youth group and many people believed I could not do the job right. In the past the president had always been a man and most thought it would never change until I was elected by the majority, which where most female. Well, when it came to promoting the group my picture on the flyer was removed because our secretary, a male, believed it was not necessary. Thanks to my experience with sexism I can now relate to the woman removed from the catalog. Luckily we do have women who are proving our potential. This gives me hope that some day this world will emphasize equality not only among races but also genders.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/02/world/meast/saudi-ikea-women/index.html?iref=allsearch