Growing Up Hayden

 

We’ve named our blog, Growing Up Hayden because we feel it’s a testament to what it is to live in the now, in a world where the LGBT community is fighting for acceptance and equality.  Our content is focused on all aspects of what it is to live, love and thrive in what’s still a very judgmental world.  Growing Up Hayden is a live narrative that we hope will continue to illustrate positive changes and a more and more loving, open and welcoming world.

How WikiLeaks Could Effect The LGBTQ Community

WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange believe in full transparency, which is his justification for releasing thousands of Hillary Clinton’s private emails. Assange has said “The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie.”

However this transparency can have life changing and deadly consequences for members of the LGBTQ community. Outing someone when he or she is not ready has been criticized and an invasion of privacy but is also so much more. Outing a person can cause severe psychological damage.  LGBTQ youth can be kicked out of their homes and outing someone before they are prepared can even have fatal consequences.  The Washington Post has said that WikiLeaks operates under a “reckless just-publish-everything mentality, acting with a blatant disregard for the civilians caught in the crosshairs.”

In ten countries around the world, being LGBT is not only illegal, it is punishable by death. These countries include Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the same country where WikiLeaks forced gay men out of the closet. In March, a Saudi Arabian newspaper reported that government officials sought to make posting or commenting on one’s sexuality on social media sites would be a crime punishable by death. This ruling follows a rise in sting operations targeting gay men, with thirty-five criminal prosecutions for sodomy in the previous six months.

The latest LGBTQ person was put to death in Iran. The Iranian government claimed that Hassan Afshar, a 19-year-old high school student, raped another young man. Afshar’s parents insisted the sexual encounter was consensual but that did not matter. Afshar was denied representation from an attorney and was put to death by hanging on July 18.

Even in the U.S., the LGBTQ community can face consequences for being out. According to UCLA’s Williams Institute, between 15% and 43% of LGBT people have faced on-the-job harassment.  An individual can be fired for being a member of the LGBTQ community in twenty-eight states, including Kansas, Mississippi, Idaho and Indiana. The Williams Institute of UCLA School of Law reports that 40% of homeless youth identify as a member of the LGBTQ community. A majority of these teens were kicked out of their homes because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. A suicide attempt is 8.4 times more likely when LGBTQ youth feel rejected compared to those who feel accepted by their community.

This WikiLeaks’ philosophy is making its way into other media outlets as well. Nico Hines, a writer for the Daily Beast posed as a gay man on hookup apps like Grindr and Jack’d. Hines during the Rio Olympics. Hines claimed he was looking to “meet up” with male Olympic athletes. Hines original article made it simple to figure out which male athletes responded to Hines’ “meet up” requests (identifying information was later redacted by The Daily Beast). Many of these Olympic athletes were from countries where being out remains illegal.  Eventually the article was removed from the site.

By outing LGBTQ people, this WikiLeaks’ mentality is not holding people accountable, it has “helped bigots, bullies and oppressive regimes everywhere.”

The bottom line is “sensitive subject matter requires great sensitivity.”

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-wikileaks-assange-lgbt-outing-20161015-snap-story.html

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Be Your Own Tribe

Wentworth Miller, the openly gay star of Prison Break, told LGBTQ youth on National Coming Out Day that “We all ‘come out.’ In our own way. Usually more than once. Ideally in our own time. If you’re on that road… blessings. And much love.”

He also shared words of encouragement with for LGBTQ youth who feel alone with Attitude magazine. “I would say what others have said: It gets better. One day, you’ll find your tribe. You just have to trust that people are out there waiting to love you and celebrate you for who you are. In the meantime, the reality is you might have to be your own tribe. You might have to be your own best friend. That’s not something they’re going to teach you in school. So start the work of loving yourself.”

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Trump/Pence Anti-LGBTQ Platform

Republican Vice President Nominee Mike Pence has confirmed what we already knew, the Trump/Pence ticket is firmly anti-LGBTQ. Pence spoke with Dr. James Dobson in an interview for The Christian Post, an anti-LGBTQ publication. Dobson is also the founder of some of the largest anti-LGBTQ organizations in the country, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.

Here is a summary of the Trump/Pence anti-LGBTQ platform:
– Pence states that a Trump/Pence presidency will let local governments resolve bathroom issues for transgender students. He said that children’s “safety” and “privacy” should be priorities in these decisions. These terms reiterate the myth that transgender students are somehow a threat to other students and should be kept out of restrooms that match their gender identity.

– The Trump/Pence campaign has promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn marriage equality.

– Trump and Pence have both promised to sign the First Amendment Defense Act, a federal bill that would legalize various forms of anti-LGBTQ discrimination under the disguise of religious freedom.

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Miley Cyrus Discusses Being Pansexual & Gender Neutral

In the fall of 2015, Miley Cyrus opened up to Elle UK and Paper magazine about being pansexual and identifying as gender neutral.

She told Paper, “I am literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn’t involve an animal and everyone is of age. Everything that’s legal, I’m down with. Yo, I’m down with any adult — anyone over the age of 18 who is down to love me. I don’t relate to being boy or girl, and I don’t have to have my partner relate to boy or girl.”

Now Cyrus has opened up to Variety about her how she knew that she is pansexual. Cyrus states “I think when I figured out what it was. I went to the LGBTQ center here in L.A. and I started hearing these stories. I saw one human in particular who didn’t identify as male or female. Looking at them, they were both: beautiful and sexy and tough but vulnerable and feminine but masculine. And I related to that person more than I related to anyone in my life. Even though I may seem very different, people may not see me as neutral as I feel. But I feel very neutral. I think that was the first gender-neutral person I’d ever met. Once I understood my gender more, which was unassigned, then I understood my sexuality more. I was like, “Oh — that’s why I don’t feel straight and I don’t feel gay. It’s because I’m not.”

Miley Cyrus has evolved into a queer icon who pushes the boundaries of mainstream notions of gender and sexuality.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/miley-cyrus-gender-neutral_us_57ffad9ce4b05eff55820a7e

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Claim Your Colors

Claim Your Colors

Hayden’s List knows that Delta Airlines is LGBTQ friendly.

Delta has received stellar reviews from you, the LGBTQ community (Read the reviews here.) And this week for National Coming Out Day, Delta proved again their dedication and support to the LGBTQ community.

The airline posted a video to social media that shows a full rainbow of checked bags moving along a baggage carousel. The caption reads: Claim your colors. We got your back. #NationalComingOutDay. The video was posted just a day after Atlanta Pride, where Delta was a presenting sponsor this year.

Thank you Delta Airlines for being so welcoming to the LGBTQ community!

Delta Celebrates National Coming Out Day With Colorful Ad

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High School Has First Transgender Football Player

Kennedy Cooley, a Canadian teen, has become the first transgender player on his high school’s football team.  Cooley said to CTV News that he transferred to Halifax West High School in Halifax, Canada for his senior year because he’d heard that students there would be more accepting of his gender identity than his previous school.

Cooley said that he was initially apprehensive about joining the football team but he quickly learned that his teammates weren’t fazed by his presence.  Head coach of the team David Kelly told CTV News that Cooley, “seems to get along with everybody,” and is helping to give his teammates, “a perspective that they probably would not have had before.”

Robert Cooley, Kennedy’s father, told ABC News that he hopes his son’s story will encourage other parents of transgender kids to embrace their differences.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/transgender-teen-football-player_us_57e2a60ae4b08d73b82eb327

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