QC Affirming Diversity

Joshua left the tent of the presence of the Lord dumbfounded by the Lord’s command. The Israelite army was to march around the heavily fortified city of Jericho seven times and shout on the final pass. Determined to show no apprehension for God’s request, Joshua walked back towards the encampment and was met by a man.

Joshua 5: 13-15, “While Joshua was near Jericho, he suddenly saw a man standing in front of him, holding a sword. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you one of our soldiers, or an enemy?’
‘Neither,’ the man answered. ‘I am here as the commander of the Lord’s army.’
Joshua threw himself on the ground in worship and said, ‘I am your servant, sir. What do you want me to do?’
And the commander of the Lord’s army told him, ‘Take your sandals off; you are standing on holy ground.’ And Joshua did as he was told.”

Joshua had to see the Spirit world that is hidden from the people of the world. He had to understand how the unseen world and our world co-exist for the purpose of helping human beings who were on the side of God. This knowledge would give him the ability to be strong and determined so he could trust and obey God as he began the awesome task of conquering the Promised Land.

An explosion sounded in a tremendous thunder scattering the rock walls of the city into tiny bits. It devastated every armory position, every watch tower, and the heavy gates that once protected Jericho. In one quick attack the army ran towards the city. They destroyed every living, breathing, thing and ignited the city in fire.

Every idol and image of their idols had to be destroyed. Every part of Jericho had to be annihilated so that the Israelites would not be tempted and pulled into their evil lifestyle.

God had to separate the Israelites from evil so they could be a living example to all nations of how to be good in an evil world where Satan is king. The Israelites needed to be the messengers for the foundation of the Laws of Moses that would begin in Israel and spread throughout the entire world.

The surrounding nations needed their illustration so they would turn away from their former practices and follow the powerfully, miracle working God of Israel. A God who was a God of order. A God who would bring in a government of justice. A God who would use any means necessary to grab people from evil and instruct them in truth.

God revealed His greatness when He took the sinful nation of Israel and turned them into Law abiding, obedient servants who would even die in order to get God’s message out. People who would face the evil of this world and conquer it by the knowledge given to them by God.

Joshua was given a vision of the supernatural world of spirits so he could see the commander of the unseen army of God. Seeing this world brought him to his knees in fear. Suddenly he realized that there was more to this world. An unseen world of spirits that co-exist along side of man.

Ephesians 6: 11-13, “Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks. For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. So put on God’s armor now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy’s attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground.”

Joshua realized that he was not fighting against human beings, he was fighting against the wicked spiritual forces of the unseen world. Spirits who could influence the mind of men for good or evil. A heavenly world of rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers who wanted to destroy the lives of men.

The hardest thing I ever did was to completely commit my ways to the supernatural messages God typed to me. His messages became my thoughts and opened up my mind to think and act differently towards the conflicts that surrounded the lives of men.

My trials over the custody of my three children put each message into an illustration of how God uses people to fight against the wicked spiritual forces of the unseen world. Forces that use the word of God for evil. Spirits that influence even church people to fight against the very nature of God.

1John 3:10, “Here is the clear difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: anyone who does not do what is right or does not love his brother is not God’s child.”

An unseen spiritual world of good was beckoning me to see my world in an entirely different perspective. A world where we are chosen to do battle against evil in our human form. A plan set forth by the living God to rally the human troops against the wicked spiritual forces of evil for the side of love.

A world where we are God’s heroes battling forces of evil that can’t be seen, but are present in the very heart of men. Men who listen to evil and are determined to fight against anyone who is on the side of love.

The courtroom was filled with members of my ex-church. I walked in on crutches determined to fight against the persecutions they were waging against me for loving Tori. Two weeks before my former church pastor and a deacon watched as my ex-husband slammed a car door into my leg over and over again and did nothing to stop him.

God sent me a message telling me to let the people who were not members of this church know just exactly what kind of leadership was teaching their kids. I obeyed and anonymously sent letters off to every parent whose kids were in the Wednesday children’s program.

The crowd of Southern Baptist members were there to show there support to Eric and their pastor. They wanted to intimidate me and make me see that my being gay gave them the right to do anything they wanted against me.

That morning I had received another message from God telling me to not go forward in court. He stated that they were only going to make it about me being gay and it could lead to them trying to hurt me even more. He said we had made our point when we sent letters to the parents.

When my lawyer arrived, he looked at the crowd in the courthouse room in bewilderment. He agreed with me that we should let go of the protective order. He looked at Tori and I and understood that this was not about abuse it was about love.

1John 4: 7&8, “Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

It was years later before I began to understand why these things happened to me. I was part of a bigger plan! My life would be an example for anyone who was willing to see that we are more than human beings trying to live the American Dream. We are players in an unseen Spiritual Game. A game of love fighting against evil.

Joshua went forward to conquer the heavily fortified city of Jericho because he trusted God and he wanted a more just and loving world for his children. God gave him the victory because he obeyed.

Linda Dipman
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/trust-and-obey-partii-113520.html

Two weeks ago my daughter, Christy, and I were having a conversation. She stated that most girls have the kind of mom who share a spa day with them, who invite them to go get their nails done together or try out a new hairstyle.

We both laughed at her words, because I was opposite from this kind of mom. In fact, my daughter ended the conversation with the statement, “Instead I get a mom who wants to save the world. And on top of it you dragged me into doing it too!”

I don’t know what I would do without my daughter, I trust her completely. She edited my book. She edits every article I write and of course made some of the article writing hers. Three of the titles were her ideas and she also is building my website

Christy has three children. Samuel is always reminding me that he is going to be four very soon. Paige just turned 2 and Sofia is 6 months. All are very energetic and Christy must give up sleep in order to work for me.

Her faith in God is great and she endeavors to teach her children the same principles. She is all about living a Christian life and being a faithful and loving wife to her husband and a loving and good mom to her children. I tell her all the time that she comes from a long line of great Christian mothers.

You would never believe that Christy had ever experienced anything but good in her lifetime. Most people believe that you can’t be so grounded and be such a good person if something bad has ever happened to you. You just had to have lived a charmed life!

The common phrase we always hear is ‘bad things always happen to bad people’. Yet what people think is truth is often a lie. The real truth is that bad things happen to good people because our world is under the rule of Satan.

John 5:19, “We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.”

When Christy was five and attending kindergarten the worse possible thing happened in her life. Her parents divorced and she and her brothers became the ponds in a huge custody battle.

I suppose this custody fight wouldn’t have been so traumatic if it weren’t for the fact that our family was so religious. Her dad was an ordained deacon and his father was a Baptist minister. My own sister and her husband were in full time ministry and I our family came from a long line of ministers and missionaries.

Everything Christy was ever taught was about obeying God and serving in church. You see in 1986 divorce was a very big sin! Yet there is a sin that is bigger than divorce and that is the sin of being gay! I would go as far as to say that for the church it is even bigger than murder!

Churches preach that homosexuality is wrong! Using Sodom and Gomorrah as a story illustrating God’s hatred of gays. But they quietly leave out scripture that leaves out the real reason for the destruction of these cities.

2 Peter 2:6, “God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying them with fire, and made them an example of what will happen to the godless.”

The scripture specifically states that it was not about sexual sin, but about godlessness. Never the less churches, families, and society throw out their gay family members because the churches skip these scriptures.

Because Theologians and religious historians refuse to set the record straight, homosexuals are deprived of their children and denied justice in the courts. They are humiliated, persecuted, killed and despised all in the name of God.

Ezekiel 16:48-50, “As surely as I am the living God, the Sovereign Lord says, ‘your sister Sodom and her villages never did the evil that you and your villages have done. She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged. They were proud stubborn and did the things that I hate, so I destroyed them, as you well know.’”

They say, love the sinner but hate the sin. But Christy can tell you that this is not true! You can not love what you hate. It is like telling Satan that he has to love God and we all know how impossible that would be!

Because people have been misled by the church, everything I did as a good Christian mother was counteracted by me falling in love with a woman. It didn’t matter how much I loved my children or how diligent I was in teaching them about God and doing service in my church.

Because of false teachings, a huge tug-of-war began not just between husband and wife, but with husband, church, family, friends and society all against me. A battle that was so tipped in favor of her dad that Christy struggled to love me regardless of what they said about me.

In fact, Christy and her brothers became so entangled in the fight for who had the right to be custodial parent that you would have thought that they would have never had anything to do with God ever! Because God was the reason they were not to love their mother.

They were told they couldn’t love me because I was living a life of sin. They were confused by strangers who told them how unlucky they were to have a mom who had fallen from God’s grace and chose to live an ungodly lifestyle. From church to school to the small town they lived in, they were constantly the center of unwanted attention because of their Satan possessed mother.

Christy didn’t want this kind of attention! She just wanted her mom. She didn’t care what the church had to say, she just wanted to live with her mom. She didn’t understand why everyone was in such an uproar, because she saw me as the same mom who loved her and had taken care of her since birth.

So you can see that her childhood was not peaceful. She was taken away from her mom and given to her dad. I was given no visitation and as a result I fled with my children and was arrested and put in jail while Christy endured being put in the hands of the SRS.

Christy saw her mother attacked by her father, while the pastor and a deacon watched. She saw her mother being stalked by church members in the name of God. She saw her grandparents turn their back on her mother and wish her dead.

She was forced into counseling as a small child. She was forced to go before a judge and tell him who she wanted to live with. Even after she stated she wanted to live with her mom, the judge ignored her words.

Time and again she was involved in one court proceeding after another while her testimony to live with her mother was disregarded. Whenever visitation resumed with her mother she was interrogated by her father, councilors, and family.

It is amazing today from the persecution my daughter endured from church, society and family members that she came through fifteen years of childhood holding onto her faith regardless of whether her prayers were answered or not.

It took until my daughter was an adult and able to make up her own mind that she began to see the mother that I really was. A mother who loved her and wanted the best for her and her family. Today our bond is strong because of our mission to tell the world the truth about God and love!

Linda Dipman
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/keeping-the-faith-93990.html

Dating is a requirement for best matchmaking among a teen boy and girl, young male and female, mature men and women and senior single. It is not stop here. You have couples dating known as swingers, gay men and lesbian dating. The straight idea of dating which in previous times was limited to teen school/college boys and girls, has been expanded to what we see above. The variations are mind boggling and as mind boggling as the variations in people’s physical attributes and sexual orientation. One visit a successful dating site will confirm this.

Anyway, the conventional dating is right here as before and there to stay. This is the most loving form of dating specially in the post teen age when young male and female begin to know the chemistry of love better. Just out of school, dating becomes more serious, an alter from the heart beat nerve breaking interaction between innocent teen hearts. By this time, the young adults a have already matured enough and have to some level mastered the art of dating. The instinct of romance which was set in motion in teen gets furthered nurtured into full scale romantic being by the time one reaches the college. Hence, the essential – adult personals ads.

Unto those whom these abilities do not outside, need to read articles on the art of dating or adult dating which is the accurate expression. There is not wrong if you are incompetent in dating or the relation building process. For not all are born the same and there so many of people in the world who are bad relationship organizers. Women and men come in all dimensions and the in differing brain size and kind which results in different behavioral characteristic. Paradoxically, these applies to swingers and swap sex seekers gay, lesbian, and bisexual women and men too, in current times.

The online dating services or matchmaking sites have brought about a uprising specially for swinger, gay, lesbian and bisexual persons who have been blessed with the opportunity of come out of the private and connect online communities that help there lifestyle. Even the seniors have connected the fray and seeking a partner at fifty plus are now a believable concept for those whose movement and reach are restricted by debility.

It is all there on the Internet in your control. Not required to force down to a land based setup and score files upon files of ads to see if some one gels with you. The matchmaking procedure is programmed in a matchmaking service and the outcome is delivered right at your desktop as email i.e. if you are too upset to go online and look for adult personals ads and classifieds. Thus, with so many seekers put their personals ads you are most likely to meet your match now and you could have ever dreamed of before.

Jwaltz
http://www.articlesbase.com/dating-articles/online-dating-now-and-then-137946.html

Lesbian is a woman who loves and has sexual relationship with women. Lesbian sex is a homosexual carry out that like all same sex activity has been there since centuries and is here to stay and prosperous.

Internet dating service offers free lesbian personals seeking women for sex apart for love and relationship. There free dating service for lesbian or dykes as they are often referred to known as lesbian dating sites. Lesbian sex is a very popular activity among lesbian woman and bisexual women.

Like all homosexuals face unfairness in Australia. The supporters of lesbian rights in Australia have a hard-hitting time and support lesbian sex rights. There is as discrimination against same sex families especially in parenting and acceptance laws where equal rights to all families have become a bane of contention. Same sex couples in Australia just want the regular rights afforded to heterosexual couples every day.

Significant law improvement is required for same sex dating in Australia to change things for lesbians and gays. The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) have been confrontation for equal opportunity in the work place. Recently a report was published which claimed that a fairly large number of lesbians faced experienced some form of ridicule or unfair treatment in the workplace. Although many countries are opening up to gay lifestyle but a significant amount of legislative change and a perspective devoid of bias is required to deliver equality to homosexuals.

Lesbians face widespread discrimination on the basis of their sexual identity. Australia’s international human rights compulsion require governments to take all necessary actions to remove sexuality discrimination, however current centralized, state and territory laws provide only limited protection against discrimination and also lack uniformity.

Same sex marriage for lesbians is not allowed in Australia. Hence, the state does accord marital status to lesbian couples. Other questions include refutation of promotions, unfair removal from office, pestering, breaches of privacy and refusal of overtime and higher duties. Lesbians have been refused treatment and hospital visitations due their sexuality. Vilification – Lesbian face verbal and physical abuse on many instance in Australia.

The discrimination in case of lesbian and gays is homophobic and large-scale public awareness campaign and education is required to increase toleration for homosexuals.

Alina Farace
http://www.articlesbase.com/dating-articles/lesbian-lifestyle-and-lesbian-rights-in-australia-134539.html

Are all gay men just superficial disco bunnies with only one thing on their minds? The mass media would certainly have you believe that is so, and with figure heads such as Boy George and Julian Clary, who can blame the public for going along with this idea. Of course, straight acting gay men are just harder to detect. So homophobes continue with their prejudices and the 21st century, thinking gay man gets very lonely wondering where all the men like him are! How, then, do intelligent professional gay men meet each other? There are thousands of clubs and pubs, dating agencies and personal ads for cruising purposes, but it can be extremely difficult to meet professional gay friends for purely social purposes, where a deeper relationship may develop. This is where the gay dining club comes to the rescue. I recently tried Out & Out, London’s longest established dining club for professional gay men and was amazed at how civilized an evening with 40 gay men could be.

Out & Out was started by the disarmingly charming and truly scrumptious Julia Melinek. Eleven years ago, opera singer Julia (she’s sung Madam Butterfly for English National Opera) and fellow warbler, Mark Glanville (more recently the author of best – selling book The Goldberg Variations) realised that they were so good at organising dinner parties for gay colleagues that they might as well do it professionally. As Out & Out, they booked a stand at a Gay lifestyle exhibition at Earl’s Court and pretty much became an instant success. Today they’re the biggest dining club for professional gay men in the UK, with a membership that sometimes hits a thousand. They are not just another gay dating service in London. Through the gay dining club format, members can meet new friends, network professionally and chat without any of the posing and cruising obligations of the scene.

How did they do it? Professional fag hag (it’s her description) Julia reckons that, as far as social skills are concerned, “you’re born that way.” But she likens her table – hopping duties at Out & Out functions to those of the circus plate spinner, forever dashing to give the plate at the end another twirl. Having seen her in action, I can confirm that, like the guy with the plates, she performs apparently effortlessly. But what is it with Julia and gay men? “There’s a special relationship between straight women and gay men,” she explains. “It’s like the girlie friendship, opposite sexes getting on with each other without the sexual tension.” The personal touch extends to communications with the Out & Out office. There are no mail-shots. Julia and Mark can spend eight hours a day on the phone, telling members about upcoming lunches and dinners, plus other events including theatre visits, foreign trips and boat cruises. Clearly the label ‘Gay Dining Club’ only reveals part of the picture as members use the club for professional networking purposes, expanding their social horizons, debates, message posting and of course, inevitably, for gay dating.

But, ultimately, is it all about sex? Surprisingly, no. “It’s far less a sexual thing than the scene,” says Julia. I accepted an invitation to the gallery bar of the Cross Keys, a beautiful old pub in Chelsea, where Out & Out celebrated Valentine’s Day. The mix of men was much as Julia had described, all ages, classes and races, but “the common denominator is intelligence, those who enjoy a dinner party atmosphere as opposed to posing and cruising.”

After a 17 year relationship broke up, lawyer David T found it very difficult to “let loose” again. “In the bars I was very conscious of being older,” he told me, “but here, as you can see, the age range is very wide.” At Out & Out he has made a lot of gay friends, some men he now sees independently. What about romance? None as yet. David feels that Out & Out is primarily a social group. But then I met David L and William R who have been together for three years after meeting at an Out & Out function. “Jules is very good at judging,” said David. “She sits people next to each other if she thinks they’re going to get on. With us, she got it right.” “I didn’t want a gay dating agency when I joined Out and Out,” said William “I was far more interested in networking with professional gay men and meeting new friends….but then I met David, and the rest is history!”

Now David is trying to get William to County Hall! “We’ll invite Mark and Jules,” David promised.

Pankaj Mohan
http://www.articlesbase.com/sexuality-articles/more-to-gay-life-than-sex-55292.html

Some churches will march Saturday in support of the annual Sacramento Pride Parade, but other religious groups are expected to be on hand to oppose the message the event sends.

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Technorati Tags: 3, gay, KCRA, parade, pride, Religion, Sacramento

Proceeds from the event will benefit the direct support services QCAD provides to gay and questioning
youth as well as the education outreach services to the community.A reception for students of the Figge Art Museum Drawing Academy. Just some clips from the reception. Angie is getting more established as a serious art student.

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Technorati Tags: Academy, Art, Drawing, Figge, Museum, QC Affirming Diversity

The popularity of gay lifestyle is evident from the number of gay dating sites that has sprung up on Internet in recent times. It is a blessed platform for closeted gays to contact gay males for gay romance, love and sex relationship as anyone else would wish for. gays can search free gay personals on gay dating websites for gay relationship.

Out Personals

Out Personals, Queer - these words characterize gay lifestyle, which till today is not an accepted mode of life to a large populace on this planet. Even in modern, fast-paced societies where liberal attitudes and sexual liberation are a norm, gay men are looked down upon. Gay activity is sneered or frowned upon and they are looked down as queers or out personals the naming to is self explanatory.

Social Life

Country politics and social caretakers indulge in raging debates on gay lifestyles and gay rights in discussion forums, parliament, and conventions. There is a marked hesitancy in accepting gays in government services and other public enterprises, though some nations have accorded acceptance but more has to be done. In many instance persons discovered as following gay lifestyle have been debarred from office jobs and social circles.

The crux is that homosexuality is in practice since ages and it is still as popular, without any signs of receding or vanishing from the face of earth. Then why not accept it since it does not impinge on anyone’s privacy or way of life. Nor is it detrimental to the society since gay dating lifestyle is a much-closeted practice.

I am not advocating gay life as a gay-which I am not-but what I want to stress is that everyone has a right to express his or her sexuality and practice as long as it does not hurt others.

Gay Lifestyle and Relationship

The reason behind ridicule or sneer of gay lifestyle is that it is a biological aberrance as sex is for procreation and a man-to-man sex does not give birth to new being. But then, anal sex practice is not limited to gay couples only, it is much practiced by straight couples too, so what is funny. Any way gay love and romance is a very strong force that binds the gay couple together sometimes in permanent relationship.

Sex is for procreation but it is for pleasure too, and any which way you can. Therefore, “Out” sex practice is not restricted to guys only but rather practiced by straight lifestyle followers in some way or the other. So live and let live.

Jwaltz
http://www.articlesbase.com/dating-articles/online-gay-dating-relationship-and-lifestyle-120078.html

Fashion video and TV will become huge online in the coming years. Here you will find out why fashion TV and video online is set for huge growth online in the coming years.

So, why are websites providing fashion TV and videos online for free?

Quite simply it appeals to everyone.

Both men and women have an interest and it helps websites sell by capturing a captive audience.

Today, fashion is a huge business and we are all more conscious of our appearance than ever before.

We live in the age of the celebrity, of looking good and youthful.

Fashion TV provides escapism, fun.

For the viewer on one side and on the other side advertisers know that everyone wants to watch it, so advertising revenue is big, so it makes sense to provide it free.

1. Women

We all know woman love fashion. They can keep up with the latest trends and tips. No surprises here.

2. Men

Men love fashion TV if it’s just to look at some stunning models!

Today, men are becoming just as image conscious as women and the huge gay community is the most image conscious group and they have money.

Getting a captive audience

Advertisers know that fashion sells a look and a lifestyle we all aspire to.

Fashion TV set to music is a great way to keep people on their websites.

It’s easy on the eye, with beautiful people and a lifestyle most people aspire to.

Add in some music and its fun escapist entertainment.

Expect to see a huge increase in fashion and lifestyle TV and video streamed live on the internet as advertisers exploit its popularity.

Which of course is good news for viewers as well.

Sacha Tarkovsky
http://www.articlesbase.com/clothing-articles/fashion-tv-why-free-fashion-tv-online-is-set-to-grow-67780.html

Transgender adults are not a new theory or issues in society. The fact of sex change operations and the rights of individuals that identify with the opposite sex, however is a new battle today. In past years individuals that were labeled one gender, but felt they belonged to the opposite gender were shunned and regarded as weird or abnormal. It is only recently that a term has been assigned, Gender Identity Disorder.

Many of the people living in the body of the wrong gender feel trapped and alone. Most are ashamed and afraid because of society’s harsh criticism and outcast techniques. There are many terms and names that have been assigned to transgender individuals, which can be considered derogatory, and for the use of exploitation in most cases. Transgender adults are considered an umbrella category in which there are many classes of individuals. One of the largest classes of transgender individuals are male-to-female transgendered people, who have breasts and other secondary sex characteristics typical of an adult female, but who have not undergone genital reassignment surgery. They are born males but identify with the female class and most often have characteristics of females. Generally a transwoman is a male with characteristics of a female that eventually begins to live as a woman. Most of them have more feminine characteristics and sometimes will even have female genitalia as well.

In some cases male-to-female transgendered people will undergo hormone replacement therapy and a breast implant to help with their life as a woman. This has a drastic affect on their lives and they face many issues in society that can devastate their life. Society does not have a good understanding of these individuals and they are often targets of cruel and harsh punishment. There are many jokes and issues of poking fun and very subservient treatment to transgendered people.

Shemales are a hot topic in the pornography industry. Many people are curious and will subscribe to websites and magazines to see what they are. This is a fantasy of many to be with an individual that exhibits characteristics of two different genders. Around the country there are also escort services that pride themselves in the specialty of shemale escorts. There is big money in the industry and many transwomen fall prey to the lures of financial gain.

Here are some facts about male-to-female transgendered people:

1. Male-to-female transgendered people do not feel like they are only half-female or half person. Most are offended by the media portrayal of the incorrect lifestyle. These individuals are normal people that you would not recognize as transgendered if they did not tell you

2. Most transwomen never go reconstructive genitalia surgery because they feel it is not necessary in their true identity.

3. Contrary to popular belief most male-to-female transgendered people are comfortable with the fact that they have male genitalia but live as a female.

4. Transwomen do not work any different or have lessened ability because they live in different clothes.

5. Regardless of the movie industry and pornographic portrayal most of them do not illicit illegal sexual acts or engage in fooling their partner.

6. According to the American Psychological Association there are approximately 1 in 30,000 individuals in America that transition from male to female and 1 per 100,000 that transition from female to male.

7. Male-to-female transgendered people are not gay, they simply feel that they are in the wrong gender body.

Donald List
http://www.articlesbase.com/sexuality-articles/maletofemale-transgendered-people-94634.html