Why is it that the businessmen and women of the world get to decide what constitutes “professional?” I hate that people look down on me cause I have piercing and tattoos, and because of it I have to work harder than any of them just to get ahead.

Doesn’t the fact that I work hard, and get the job done mean I’m just as good as them?  That I deserve every bit of respect they give to the “normal”person? I think so.

In the end I’ll always give them the benefit of the doubt and let their work/action speak for themselves. That’s why I am equal.

I’d never met anyone openly gay and neither had he. He was afraid to return home because his country had a mandatory military enlistment requirement, and his parents, when he had come out to them at 13, wanted to place him in a mental hospital for shock therapy. He promised them he would change himself and pretended to be straight while learning English so he would be able to be selected for the exchange program.

Once he got to the U.S., he was placed with a family that really hadn’t wanted an exchange student so they didn’t give him much in the way of support or culture. He’d been depressed because he hadn’t met anyone else who was gay here and his time was running out. He was moved in with our family for the last two months of his exchange after his original host parents filed for divorce.

After coming out to us, he had to return briefly to his country for a visa change. That was a very scary time as we didn’t know if he’d be picked up by the army for his mandatory tour or if his parents would again bring up hospitalization. He got back to us on a student visa, applied for asylum and we officially adopted him. Adoptions after the age of 16 don’t count toward a visa change so his future was still up in the air. There was little I could do to help him stay here as it was up to our government.

While I was struggling to keep someone else’s gay child, I heard about other parents who were kicking their kids out of the house for being gay. I joined PFLAG to see if I could make a difference.

After almost a decade my son got asylum. I can’t imagine my life without him in it. Parents still kick their gay kids out of the safety and security of their home, but hopefully more and more parents will realize that having a gay kid might be the best thing that could happen to their family.

As cliche as that is, I feel it down to my bones. When I approach people as strangers, I become a stranger. When I approach them as friends, I’m a friend and I’m surrounded by friends.

I have, in my middle age, discovered that I really can appreciate everyone. I mean, really. We’re all flawed, we’re all human, but we’re also awfully interesting. We’re all related. And we all deserve the very basics. Healthy food, clean water, shelter, clothing, heating in the winter, cooling in the heat of the summer and health care. This is why I am a peace activist.

“Peace begins with respect,” said wise and wonderful Quaker, Patsy Gehr, whom I met some years ago.

When we respect each other and recognize that we each deserve the very basics, at least, and that reference to the “haves” and the “have nots” should not include that which is necessary to survive, we can begin to relate to each other as what we are – part of the same, beautiful family. And once we get to thinking about it, we realize that war, militarism, and all of the “power over” structures built into global society today are detrimental to our health and well being. So, we adjust our attitude and the world becomes a whole lot friendlier place and there’s no one we don’t want to comfort and protect.

I am 21 years old, and I will stand firm in my belief until the day that I die.

I’ve been teased for being different by my peers, assaulted by the general media with the standard of how women should act and look, called a liar and a fake and made to feel like crap for being who I am. I’m am a tall, pansexual fembot; a survivor; a supreme nerd; an open mind; an equal soul.

When I was in elementary school, I was teased for being tall by all the boys, so I would bully them right back. When I was in middle school, I was teased and called “stupid white girl” and shunned when I tried to fit in. In high school, I was lucky enough to go to one of the most accepting schools in this city, but the people of the Westboro Baptist Church sent a memo to our school calling us fags, sinners, abominations. They protested outside my school while we were forbidden to say anything in return, and all the while I couldn’t understand it. We’re all human beings. We’re all made of the same meat, the same blood running through our veins. Why should anyone be treated as different?

Growing up, I was taught that I should love everyone equally, when in the next breath I was made to hate myself for the way I am. I was told that I couldn’t tell one side of my family that my father was Jewish because they were Muslim. I was called worthless, pathetic, fat and stupid for not being the best in school. Even now, I’m scared to tell my mother about my girlfriend. I’m still learning that I’m just as equal as anyone else, that I deserve the same respect and love, and that’s a lesson that everyone needs to learn.

I’m proud to be taking part in the I AM EQUAL project because for every one of us that stands up, there are more out there who are like me, who were made to believe that they’re not worth spitting on for whatever reason: they’re gay, they’re fat, they aren’t top of their class, they’re a different race, religion, political mindset, what have you. Lives have been lost because there are people in this world who can’t simply accept others, and I was almost one of them. Man, this is hard to type, ahaha.

I will always love my parents for raising me, no matter what; my mother for teaching me that everyone on this earth is the same, and my father for helping me believe that I’m a part of it. Too many people out there can’t understand that just because someone looks different, acts different, loves or believes in something that they might think is wrong, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t thinking and feeling the same things, that they aren’t as equal.

Nobody has the right to look down on others for being different, to hurt and make them feel like the absolute lowest of the low. And for those who have been made to feel like that, remember that you are equal, you are amazing, you are beautiful simply on account of being who you are. No one has the right to take that away from you, no matter what.

We are all human, and we are all equal.

I am a club advisor who had a club event to attend on the day of the I AM EQUAL photo shoot. I debated whether to participate, but when a student in my district was caught with a gun at school on the day before the photo shoot, I decided that yes, I needed to attend; To stand up for the lives that could have been lost but were not; To stand up for the children who will struggle for the rest of their lives to close the gap between themselves and those who were born into more…”comfortable” families.

I am also a single lesbian standing up for equal marriage rights, the right to be who I am, and the right to be single.

As I write this, I am also joining the ranks of the unemployed. So, the third and final statement of equality that I would like to make is for my fellow unemployed teachers, and all who have suffered because of the ignorance of those who just don’t understand what it is that we do.

In elementary, middle and high school I was bully so much because i was shy and fat. It got a lot worse when i came out of the closet to my friends in 9th grade because I was different.

When I joined the Mormon church I thought I would get away with being gay and hiding back in the closet…well that didn’t work. I had a meeting with the Bishop and was in tears. I asked him if  ”the church will accept me for being gay?”

He said, “No we can’t, but we can fix you.” He wanted to send me to a mental hospital for a month to “cure me”. I never attended any appointments with the mental hospital and ultimately left the church.

NOW I AM NOT AFRAID TO BE OPEN WITH ANYONE.

I am now a community activist in the LBGT COMMUNITY and a deacon in a christian church who accepts me.  I don’t allow anyone bully me anymore.

We are ALL equal. We all are made in God’s image and we should treat each other equally because we all are “ONE HUMAN RACE.”

I wanna hear peace, Love, One world !

God bless all people on the world.

I am equal because God Loves Me like every human being on this world.

I don’t quite fit into a gay world, nor do I really fit into a “straight” world.

Straddling the line between worlds, I have come up with my own little world. A world where men and women respect each other’s differences and still feel equal. Where skin color means nothing more then pigmantation. Where adults and children can both learn from each other, not dismissing each other for age. Where wars are considered silly ways to deal with things and politicians actually work together for the greater good.

It is currently a small world, but the only one I have any interest in.

I am shy, insecure and alone.

7 years ago I was confronted with the most challenging life experience, I became the target of a hate crime. I was attached and mugged by 4 men because I was gay, leaving me in the hospital with the need for reconstructive surgery.

I have a daily reminder when I look in the mirror where a titanium plate is used in support my eye. I know there is no coincidence in the universe and because of this experience, traumatic as it may be, I?’m now a stronger person.

Thank you to my friends and family who helped me through the tough times.

I hope that some day, hate crimes, such as those based on sexual orientation no longer plague our community.

I AM EQUAL to a man, for I was in a couple of domestic violence relationships.

I AM EQUAL to all nationalities…for all men and women of all races are just as beautiful and great.