G-ay rights

Homosexuality (lesbian and gay), bisexuality, and transsexuality (LGBT) rights - or as most people say it, gay rights - is equal civil and social rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual people. Governmental laws related to LGBT are drastically varied depending on the country and territory.

(Source: wikipedia.org. To read more about LGBT rights by country or territory, click here.)

In my country, same-sex sexual activity is legal but same-sex marriage is not. And you can still clearly see social discrimination. This is most probably because homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality is considered a taboo. Apart from that, around 85% of the population are muslims, and homosexuality and bisexuality are strictly forbidden in Islam.

I understand how Indonesian people can be so against homosexuality and bisexuality, but in my opinion, people should be open-minded enough to understand that transsexuality is a medical condition in which a person feels the desire to be the opposite sex and although they tend to become homosexuals, it's not their fault because it's a condition. People should respect them and the condition in which they are in instead of discriminating them.

I myself have personally known a transsexual all my life. There's this woman who has been working for my grandmother ever since before I was born. Her physical appearance is of a woman, but she has an intense desire of becoming a man. She dresses like men and acts like men and etc. and now she looks so much like a man that most people wouldn't believe me if I told them she was a woman. She is also a lesbian. My family and I live just across the street and we know her quite well.

I am very grateful that my entire family respects her and has never discriminated her. Because of that, ever since I was little, I never thought of transsexuality or homosexuality as something you can make fun of. I realized that people are different and that we should just accept that difference. As for the fact that it's strictly forbidden in my religion, it's not my problem. I'll leave the punishing to God. Besides, since Islam promotes equality to all human beings, discriminating them would just mean you're sinning.

What I'm trying to say is, stop discrimination to homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals. The world would be a better place if we could just accept and respect other people's differences.

-diralien-

F-ans

No, I'm not talking about these fans:

I'm talking about these fans:

People who love their idol(s) so much that their lives have changed in some way ever since they start loving him/her/them. The changes can either be very small or very significant. It depends on how much the fan loves his/her idol(s).

During my life, I have been a fan of a number of people. And when I become a fan, I really become a fan. Way beyond loving them. I literally become obsessed with my idol. In this blog post, I'm going to write all about the obsessed-fan side of me.

The first time I was ever obsessed with someone was when I was about 12 years old. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian came out that year and I became a fan of Skandar Keynes. This person here:

SLGHVJKSLGHVJK sorry I was just suffocating from overexposure to hotness. But back then I was still so shy and I didn't express my obsession as much as I do now. I only browsed around on the internet. As a matter of fact, no one probably knew that I liked Skandar Keynes.

That all changed when I was 13. For some reason I just stopped being "obsessed" with Skandar Keynes (I still like him, though..) and I became obsessed with Justin Bieber:

Aah yes, the world-famous Bieber fever. If you're wondering why he's holding his guitar backwards, it's because he's left-handed. He was still cute back then. I saw his 'One Time' music video for the first time on 9 September 2009 (I always write these things down on my diaries) and I just started to like him. Along with thousands of other girls my age.

I was so obsessed with him that I bought every magazine that has him on the cover. I had about fifty posters of him, all hanged up on my bedroom wall. Why the hell would I spend all my allowance on those posters? Like I said, when I become a fan, I really become a fan. If Justin went into my room, he'd probably be creeped out.

At one point, I was so obsessed with him that I actually cried when I saw a video of him singing. I didn't even know that was even possible. I thought people were only exaggerating when they talked about how they cried when they saw pictures and/or videos of their idols. Apparently, it really is possible.

Ever since that day, I prayed day and night for him to come to Jakarta and perform here. My wish came true. He's gonna have a concert in Jakarta on April 23rd. But I'm not a Belieber anymore. I'm grateful that my wish came true, though. So I'm still gonna watch him. See you on April 23rd, Biebs.

Why did I stop liking Bieber? Probably because my love for Tokio Hotel was so big that I no longer had place for any other idols. I started liking them on 30 January 2010. And I still like them. No wait, I don't like them. I love them. And I'm planning to love them for the rest of my life. Here's a picture of them:

Correction: a picture of them, their bodyguard (behind Georg), and a school girl. This picture was taken while they were in Chile, donating a music room and a library to a school. Left to right: bodyguard, Georg Listing, Gustav Schäfer, Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, school girl.

Despite how much money I (read: my parents) have spent to buy CDs, DVDs, T-shirts, posters, and concert tickets (including airplane tickets because they've never had a concert in Jakarta), Tokio Hotel has changed my life quite a lot for the better. Because of them, I'm no longer insecure, I became a vegetarian, and I'm learning to play the guitar and speak German by myself. I still suck, but whatever. And I've made lots of amazing new friends. Fellow Tokio Hotel fans I met on the internet.

In addition to that, seeing, hearing, and doing Tokio-Hotel-related things always brighten up my day. I can go from having an extremely bad mood to having an extremely good mood. When I'm stressed out, I like to just lay down on my bed, put on my headphones, and listen to An Deiner Seite (my favorite Tokio Hotel song) while staring at my Tokio Hotel posters. When the song ends, my stressfulness ends along with it.

They've given a lot for me. What have I done to repay them? I - along with thousands of other Tokio Hotel fans - gave them an award.

In 2010, Tokio Hotel was nominated in Best World Stage Performance in the MTV EMAs (to read more about the MTV EMAs, click here). I thought that that was my chance to prove to them how much I love them. So I voted. And not just once. I voted at least a hundred times a day. And on the last night, I stayed up late and voted 1400 times. I just sat there in front of my laptop - clicking over and over and over again.

I was planning to vote in all the countries which means about 2000-something times but all of a sudden my mom came in and started to yell at me saying that I was so over-obsessed to the point where it's unhealthy and she reminded me that it was past midnight and I had school the next day and you know the usual things mothers tell their daughters when they stay up way past their bedtimes to vote for their favorite bands. And so I slept that night feeling guilty for not voting until I max out all the limits. I knew my mom was right, but you know how stubborn I can be.

On 7 November 2010, I saw the MTV EMAs on TV and Tokio Hotel won. Bill Kaulitz said, "Thank you so much! And I think everyone knows what that means. The EMAs are very very good and we are so proud that we have another award. That's so cool! We can't be with you tonight because we are in the studio right now in Los Angeles but we wanna thank everyone from the MTV World Stage who made that concert so special. And we wanna thank everyone at home for voting for us like crazy. I don't know how you guys do it but it's incredible. Thank you so much. And for the other bands who were nominated with us, we are sorry. Our fans are the best fans in the world. Thank you so much, have a wonderful night."

Knowing that my idol thinks that me and all the other Tokio Hotel fans are the best fans in the world made me feel so special. Thank you, Bill. And that's the whole story of the obsessed-fan side of me.

There is this girl on twitter who goes by the name of @nadheehae who once tweeted, "We are generally happier if we are a fan of something." I don't even know who she is, but I agree with her. So go! Be a fan of something!

P.S. yes I'm fifteen now. My birthday was on March 5th. I'm actually quite sad to lose another year from my teenage years which I believe is the best period of life, but oh well.

-diralien-