Our pathetic cross-walks. A symbol of our so-called leadership. Seeing Dallas clearly from Taiwan, it is a cesspool of Christian hate.
Sometimes you need to leave a place and travel to see the place you come from clearly.
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The iconic Ximen district Rainbow crosswalk in Taipei. I had to take a photo early in the morning and wait until it is clear since it is so popular to be photographed on.
Below, is a typical rainbow cross walk in Dallas, across the right turn lane from Cedar Springs to Douglas
Wrote Dallas Mayor Johnson about how Dallas has failed the LGBT here and how it is backward and is a cesspool of homophobic Christianity. Encluded was this Substack post and another. Letter at the end of this post.
Sometimes you need to travel to see the place where you are from clearly.
Sometimes you get so used to conditions that you tend to just accept the conditions and the conditions tend to fade from your view. Your expectations slowly erode and you are not aware of the slow erosion of your expectations. Expectations for what to expect from society, expectations how your humanity is respected, expectations how institutions treat you, expectations how your rights are respected and supported by government.
Taiwan is about 5% Christian. The other religions are Buddhism, Taoism, and the religion/philosophy of Confucism. The followers of these religions are focused on self-improvement and asking the heavens for support. Walking through over a dozen temples I realized there could be a world of religion that wasn’t constantly harping on hating Gays. I took over 11,000 photos of the temples. Some had many Gods, and often I would see statues of the Buddah with the Taoist Gods. (It seems they aren’t jealous Gods.)
This below is Bangka Jiyi Temple, a typical small temple to be found on the streets of Taipei, Taiwan. The inside was ten times more fantastic than the outside.
Below is from the Jinde temple in Taipei. Well worth visiting.
The temple for the God of the City of Taipei.
You could visit these temples without being prostylized and them trying to bring you to Lao Tzu or Mazu or any of the other 100 Gods that might be there or Buddha. Nor were you going to hell if you didn’t follow them, you were just missing out.
There aren’t in Taipei constant campaigns against drag, LGBT, homosexuality, Gay flags, Pride events. When I was at the October 28, 2023 Pride Parade in Taipei, there weren’t Christian protestors. Kelley Neidirt, Protect Texas Kids, Texas Rep. Matt Shaheed, and others like them would be considered crazy.
I wasn’t in a constant seething fire of Christian hate. You could feel it and see it in Taipei. The Oct. 28, 2023 pride parade grounds were infront of Taipei City Hall and the parade started in front of City Hall. It wasn’t shunted off to some corner of the city.
My video of the Taipei 2023 Pride Parade.
Knowing that I was an American, Taiwanese LGBT would assure me that the police are friendly and that if there was a problem not hesitate to ask them for help.
Not being in a cauldron of Christian hate manifested itself in the daily use by the people of Taiwan of the Taipei Pride cross walk.
Day after day I took photographs of people photographing people on the cross walk.
Here you see straight couples lining up waiting for their turn to photograph each other on the flag. The rainbow serves as both a Gay symbol and an iconic symbol of the Ximen district which is visited by people from all over Taiwan. They don’t worry that they will be kicked out of their church, because they aren’t Christian. They don’t worry what the neighbors might think. They don’t live in a cesspool of homophobia.
The parents took pictures of their daughter on the flag. They raised there arms up and down with the daughter while take photos.
This child was a lively one. Mom is busy taking pictures.
Families would get their photographs taken on the flag. Notice, that people wait for their turn. Taiwanese are civilized.
This family had a stranger take their photo. I took this photo after they had finished up a series of shots. Shorts look a little tight on that one person. Hopefully Texas Rep. Matt Shaheen won’t write the Mayor of Taipei.
Day after day people were wanting to get their photos taken on the strip.
In the heart of the Ximen District they also have a rainbow circle where people perform.
As I walked in the temples in Taipei and surrounding area and between the temples, I felt a decompression from the absence of Christian hate.
While in Taipei I visited the temple of the Taoist Gay God, Tu’er, also known as the Rabbit God and did a prayer for the safety of the LGBT in Dallas.
They have been partially answered already.
Conclusion and resolves.
Few years back I started to think that the violence, the abuse, the aggressions against the LGBT need to stop. They need to stop now. I started to think of ways to bring down homophobic Christianity.
It was rather apparent that part of the problem was there was no real program to deal with homophobic Christianity and what there was, was sentimental mush. Some of the arguments purported to a defense against Christian homophobia were really not in the interests of the LGBT, but instead were defenses of Christianity at our expense. Such as this letter by Paula Dardaganian.
In Taipei, I could really see how the LGBT had gotten accustom Christian hate and just accepted it and accomodated ourselves to it.
I resolved to fight Christian hate to every last measure within the law.
I also resolved to fight LGBT Christians, supposed Christian friends, and others supposed friends, and those who undermine the defense of the LGBT from Christian aggression to every last measure within the law.
We don’t have to live this way.
It is time to fight back.
We deserve to live in a city that isn’t a cesspool of Christian hate.
12/18/2023 Letter to Dallas Mayor Johnson.
December 18, 2023
Edward H. Sebesta
[Address redacted.]
Dallas, TX 75XXX
Mayor Eric Johnson
City of Dallas
1500 Marilla St.
Dallas, TX 75201
Dear Hon. Johnson:
Please find a report comparing the rainbow walks of Dallas, Texas with the rainbow walk in Taipei, Taiwan. I enclose a copy and it is online at this URL.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/our-pathetic-cross-walks-a-symbol
The comparison is very symbolic of the relative situation of LGBT there and here. I am not interested in hearing any explanation why Dallas has failed here. Either Dallas fixes the problem or Dallas makes excuses, and I don’t need to have my time wasted with the later.
This is another post where I discuss how I came to realize Dallas is a cesspool of homophobic Christian hate having visited a nation where only 5% are Christian.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/what-i-learned-about-dallas-by-visiting
They were quite surprised to hear about the campaign against drag and the recent threat of criminal prosecution of a Pride event here.
In trying to get corporate headquarters to locate, it would be dishonest to represent Dallas as anything other than negative. In the future it will be likely to be asked, “Did you bring it to their attention?” So, with this correspondence I have.
Sincerely yours,
Edward H. Sebesta
A shame, for sure. Is there a campaign/contacts to get this fixed?