What are your pet causes? Do you volunteer or agitate for, donate toward, write to the editor or protest about anything in particular?

-- ann monroe (monroe@chorus.net), February 13, 2000

Answers

my causes. well, the ones i encounter most often are without a doubt homophobia and prejudice against my religion. that, and just plain reaction to the way i dress sometimes.

in order for this to make sense, i'll add that i'm openly bisexual, and a traveller on the Wiccan path. for those unfamiliar with the term, Wicca is also known as Witchcraft.

i tend to be more one for trying to open people's eyes who are close to me. i think the more people i can touch on a personal level, the more minds are truly open. there's a lot more impact involved in changing a person's outlook than creating a ruckus at a higher level and not really convincing anyone of anything, except that you are a fanatic. not to say that large protests are unnecessary or foolish - merely that my place is the smaller battles, teaching by example.

gently showing my friends and acquaintances that i don't eat children for breakfast, sacrifice chickens or even believe in 'satan' goes much further than annoyed letters to the editor in the school newsletter. in fact, my closer people have learned that not only does Wicca not represent anything to do with 'evil', it means respecting all life, and they had better not squash any spiders in my presence or get severely told off.

these people have not just been told that Witches aren't something to fear, they know. and if later on in life, they encounter others who walk the Goddess's path, they are far less likely to believe any of the typical rumours about them. they are also likely to tell their friends the truth.

the same goes for bisexuality and homosexuality. those who know me even slightly have learned that simply because i like girls too does not mean i'm going to jump on every female in sight. or every male, for that matter. despite my somewhat amusing reputation, most people are rather surprised to discover exactly how picky i am. again, removing the fear factor in a person's mind goes a long, long way.

my other cause is animal cruelty and environmental issues, but that is pretty much a given when you're dealing with Witches.

right. done now. :)

ann, what are your causes?

respect, cher, sublord of shameless rambling and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey

-- cher (bear@netspeed.com.au), February 13, 2000.

my main cause is to get polyamory more widely understood. i feel the same way about bisexuality, but it's a lower priority for me. by writing about my life online, i hope to diminish people's unfounded fears about ways of living that are different from their own. that's the theory, anyway... another thing that bothers me, that i haven't done anything about yet, is that i think the marijuana laws in this country are far too harsh. i don't even care to use marijuana - i just think it's ridiculous that a violent criminal can often get out of jail sooner than someone who grew too many of the wrong kind of plant. i could go on all day about the unfairness of these laws, especially when far more physically addictive substances such as alcohol and nicotine are perfectly legal. don't get me started!

-- ann monroe (monroe@chorus.net), February 14, 2000.

Free Leonard Peltier!!!!!!!! check out the documentary film by Robert Redford " Incident at Oglala"

-- Dean Cullen (deancullen1@msn.com), February 17, 2000.

My personal cause is to get bisexuality more understood and accepted: I spent years hiding mine, more years apologising for it, and I just can't do it anymore.

My professional cause is FEAT (Families for Affective Autism Treatment). Real-proven-successful-autism-programs have a lot of trouble getting in public schools because it is *gasp* expensive, school administrators will ignore scientifically proven programs and try to convince parents that their child will be cured of autism by listening to classical music or something...

-- AJ (joijoijoi@hotmail.com), May 25, 2000.