"Injustice
anywhere
is a threat
to justice
everywhere."
--- M.L.K. Jr.
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Since 9-14-01
Please read this message from The Equality Project regarding the recent terrorist attacks and the racist and violent aftermath.
Welcome to the home of the Equality Project. The Equality Project was created on March 15, 1997. The ideas behind The Equality Project are rather simple. The members of this project wish to encourage the web public to show their support for equal rights for all humans as well as to encourage the general public to educate themselves about different sexualities, genders, religions, races, cultures, physical/mental abilities, etc. Since its creation, well over a thousand people have joined The Equality Project!
The reasons behind the creation of this project are many, as are the faces of those people who have been forced to endure blind hatred, misconceptions, and prejudice. Many people who are deemed "different", "sinful", or "second best" and have long been tormented by our society, including lesbians, gay men, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual persons, people of non-Christian religions, non-white people, people who speak other languages, people who come from other lands or cultures, older citizens, persons with differing degrees of physical or mental ability, those suffering from mental illness, people of lower economic classes, people without higher education, people of size, and women. Not only have these people been treated as second class citizens by society, but they have also been deprived of their rightful place in history and because of that, their rightful place in the shaping of the future.
The Equality Project, however, also wishes to make it know that this problem is NOT the blame of white, rich, heterosexual, well educated, upper economic class men! Men have also been mistreated by societies around the world in one way or another. Nor is it the blame of any other individual group of people, but rather a problem our global society as a whole passes on to each new generation in one way or another. Sexism, racism, and homophobia, classim, ageism, etc., like all other forms of blind hatred, are reactions to an unknown or the religiously devalued which are taught to our children by both women and men, both gay and straight, of all races, all ages, all cultures, all languages.
In our society there are many examples of this taught hatred. We are taught that being gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender is wrong for whatever reason and by doing so, we teach those children who happen to be lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender that they are evil, sinful, and are damned to hell for all of eternity for simply being who they are.
We teach our female children to "stay in their place", to be domestic servants, to be completely unselfish (read: doormat) in their service of everyone but themselves. We tell our female children that they should be ashamed of their sexuality and even their bodies if they are not what is deemed "attractive" (and for 98% of women, they aren't!) We tell our female children that they should mutilate their bodies in any way necessary to achieve the local "standard of beauty" as women are never acceptable just as they are. We teach our female children that their instincts are not to be trusted, that girls aren't as smart as boys, that girls have less self-control, less power over their own lives. We teach our female children that they should be ashamed when they are victimized because they must have "asked for it" because if they had been living up to the unrealistic standards of female behavior, it surely would not have ever happened to them.
We teach our male children to never show their emotions, never appear to be weak or "womanly" (read: human). We teach our male children that they are only allowed to care more about "manly" things, such as sports or work rather than to show their true emotions toward their own families or romantic partners. We teach our male children that they must always maintain control of "their women" rather than allowing them to enjoy equal partnerships with their wives without being viewed as "weak". We teach our male children that men are aggressive and should always behave accordingly. We teach our male children that as aggressors, they can never be the victim of any kind of violent act and when they are, we tell them to shut up about it because "real men" don't talk about such things!
We teach our children that only the religion that they grew up in is the "right one", that people who practice a different religion or people who embody some religiously forbidden characteristic or way of life are "sinful" and "wrong" and are to be shunned and treated as second best. We teach our children that the religion that they grow up with is the one and only "true" religion those who do not believe and support that religion will suffer. We teach our children that the religion they grow up with alone should dictate the "morals" and behaviours of all people, regardless of their own personal beliefs.
We teach our children that people who are different are somehow "bad" and to be avoided or even ostracized. People who are taller, shorter, darker, lighter, speak with an accent or speak another language, wear glasses, are fatter or skinnier, have different levels of physical or mental abilities, dress different, or are in any other way different from the deemed "acceptable" norm are to be avoided and viewed as somehow less of a person with less rights.
This has to stop! We as a global society have to learn to allow our children to be who they are, to accept them as they are, and to learn what we can from them. We teach our children how they will view the world and we have the power to teaching them to accept and celebrate the diversity that does and is going to surround them in life. We also have to learn to not judge another person's worth or validity as a human being based upon one aspect of who they are. We must learn to treat each person with basic respect and get to know a person before making any judgements on their character based upon who they are as a whole person rather than who we think they are based upon stereotypes and misconceptions.
The purpose of the Equality Project is NOT to blame any group of people but to recognize that in some way, we all contribute to this problem either through our own actions or beliefs or our inaction or silence. Members of the Equality Project are becoming a part of the solution instead of remaining a part of the problem. The Equality Project recognizes that we do live in a global village and that we all, from our different social climates, our different races, our different cultural basis, our different sexual orientations, and our different genders have to join together in honor of equality for all humans. The members of The Equality Project understand that when one person is denied a right all other people are given without question simply because their gender, the gender of their lovers, the color of their skin, their religion, or for any other reason, we all lose something.
Please remember few wise words (feel free to interchange any of the groups of people with the groups discussed here as the result will always be the same):
"In Germany they came first for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
--- Said by Rev. Martin J. Niemoller in 1945
The Equality Project wishes to encourage people to seek out education about all types of equality issues and to become a little more tolerant of someone who they may not understand or think that they have anything in common with. You can start by learning more about some of the many equality issues going on around the world and what you can do to help. You can also learn something new about an equality issue or group of people from a more personal perspective in our Learning Center.
All forms of blind hatred are no longer acceptable and The Equality Project members support and encourage equality for all humans, including those of different races, religions, languages, ages, sizes, genders, sexual orientations, physical or mental abilities, and cultural backgrounds because, after all, we all have something valuable to contribute to this world and it is only through acknowledging and celebrating this diversity of people that we can fully enjoy the beauty and other benefits which come with that diversity.
All members of The Equality Project display one of the membership graphics on their website (providing that they have one) in order to show their support of equal rights for all humans. While there is no way that a small graphic on even a thousand or more homepages will ever change the world, the hope behind The Equality Project is that by people openly showing their support for equality for ALL humans, perhaps just one person will rethink the tired, old ideals that they have been taught and perhaps start to really enjoy the wonder of diversity. And it's working! Find out more about the impact that this project has already had! All types of people have something to give to this world and we only have to step beyond our petty stereotypes to find it.
You are encouraged to join The Equality Project and show the world that you support equal rights for all humans. Not only will you be saying that you value all humans equally for what they have to offer but that you recognize that small differences should be understood and celebrated because they add diversity, beauty, and wonder to our world.
Who Can Join
Everyone is encouraged to show the world their support for equality for all human beings, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, size, culture, physical or mental ability, age, or language, by joining The Equality Project. You can join by filling out the short membership form, downloading one of the membership graphics (if you have a website), and copying and pasting the corresponding html fragment provided onto your page. Your page (or email address if no homepage address is given) will then be listed with the other Equality Project members.
In order to join, your site must NOT contain ANY type of hate or prejudice on it. Your site also may NOT contain any type of child pornography or any form of support for an inappropriate relationship between an adult and a child. The Equality Project does NOT and will NEVER support paedophilia or any other form of child abuse in any way!
In order to join, you must also promise that your site will not contain any hate or prejudice in the future. This includes hate against any sexual orientation, any race, any gender, any culture, any religion, or any other group of people.
If you choose to join, you MUST display the graphic somewhere on your site (unless you do not have a homepage), you must copy the graphic to your OWN server and NOT reference from this one, and you must copy and paste the HTML fragment provided for the membership graphic which you choose onto your homepage. While you are encouraged to display the graphic on your main page to show the world your support of equality, you are not required to. You may display one of the available membership graphics anywhere on your site that you choose. You may not, however, change the graphic or the html fragment in any way without written permission from the creator of The Equality Project. You also may not display either the graphic or the html fragment in a way which does not show support for this project and its goals.
If you agree to these simple terms and wish to show the world that you believe in and support equal rights for all humans, please join The Equality Project.
please let a friend know about us by sending them
a short message using the form below
OR by sending them an Equality Project postcard!
The members of The Equality Project wish to thank the people at
Lesbigay.Com for graciously providing the space for this website!