By Jim Koury, Editor, Diversity Rules Magazine
© 2012 Diversity Rules Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
www.diversityrulesmagazine.com
Welcome to the August issue of Diversity Rules Magazine. I am honored to have Liz Bradbury as the feature cover interview. She is an invaluable asset to the queer rights movement. She has worked very hard to achieve equality in Pennsylvania through the organization she and her partner began, the PA Diversity Network.
I have been watching Liz from a distance through her Facebook group page. I first “met” Liz when she expressed an interest in doing some book reviews for me years ago. She also wrote a couple articles as well over the years. I am thrilled to have her in the pages of Diversity Rules Magazine once again, as its feature cover interview. She has a wonderful story and I am sure you will enjoy reading about Liz, her literary career and her activism, for which we are all indebted. We certainly will be hearing a lot more from and about her in the future!
In an effort to expand my writing to a broader audience, I recently began contributing articles to a great site, www.gayagenda.com. There are a variety of interests and opinion being expressed, which makes it a wonderful resource for any queer individual who is still in the closet, just dabbling with the thought of coming out or is out all the way. So check the site out and tell them Jim Koury and Diversity Rules sent ya!
There is a lot of great information contained in this issue. When compiling the content, I suddenly found myself with a good number of travel related articles. So the August issue has some great information on some neat places to visit. I am hoping to have a travel piece included in each issue in the future. So if anyone would like to contribute something about a trip you made that you want to share with our readers, please feel free to do so.
I was saddened to learn of the decision by the Boy Scouts of America to continue its discriminatory policy toward queer youth. It is disturbing to me that a group that prides itself on teaching young men American values and the virtues of being an American, can so callously write off the many queer young men in this country who are most capable of being scouts and would be great ones too, but cannot be open about their sexuality or they are refused membership. To me this prejudice toward queer youth is a slap in the face to what the Boy Scouts represents. I would encourage you to remove your sons from the Boy Scouts or find an accepting troop for your son to join, until the national organization joins the 21st century. Change will come but it will have to come from within the organization itself rather than from outside, since the Supreme Court did uphold the organization’s right to discriminate. I encourage you to think hard about allowing your son to participate in a group that does not fully embrace this country’s basic premise of “liberty and justice for all.”
I hope you enjoy this month’s issue and feel free to contact me with your thoughts about anything contained herein. Take charge, and live your lives as your true selves!