This week, in the middle of Olympic events and Valentine's Day and other world expansive and world expensive events filled with declarations of love and pride, there is another important event in Nevada this weekend. The Human Rights Campaign, Time To Thrive conference has been taking place in Las Vegas.
At the kick-off on February 14, Ellen Page, in a moment of Olympian bravery, stood up to speak her truth. Please watch:
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"The Human Rights Campaign Foundation in partnership with the National Education Association and the American Counseling Association present Time to THRIVE, the inaugural national conference promoting safety, inclusion and well-being for LGBTQ youth ...everywhere!" - HRC / Time to THRIVE website.
At 11:40 am on Sunday, Hilary Clinton gave the closing plenary. Please watch and listen.
This week, as we watch and listen through television and social media, bombarded with stories of athletes and lovers, take a moment to think of the courage and strength it takes the young person who is sitting down to tell his mom or dad, friend or teacher that he is part of the spectrum we name: LGBTQ. Think about how this young person is terrified and hoping that the person he tells will still love him, that he won't be thrown out of his home and onto the street, that he will not be beaten, killed or forced into something he is not. For those of you who naively believe this no longer happens, it does - EVERYWHERE. It happens where the laws have changed and it happens where they have not. It happens within every race, religion, workplace and school in every country. Yes, there have been many positive changes but change comes slowly and is difficult to measure. From my perspective, at 52, change has been glacial in speed and warmth. If we face the reality that hate can be persistent and insidious, it will be easier to move forward in truth and love.
Watch the video and listen to Ellen Page - another young person hoping that being herself will not crumble her world and destroy all that for which she has worked, hoping that her truth will not bring her violence, loss and hate, that she will not be treated as "less than" for living that truth.
Watch the video and listen to Ellen Page - another young person hoping that being herself will not crumble her world and destroy all that for which she has worked, hoping that her truth will not bring her violence, loss and hate, that she will not be treated as "less than" for living that truth.
As you go forward through your days, breathe and act with kindness, breathe and act with love, breathe and move without fear of difference. Breathe and remember that many colourful threads make for strong and beautiful cloth.
We are one in life and love.
-Gillian Cornwall, c. February 16, 2014.
All photographs by Gillian Cornwall - c. February 2014
