The Separation of Church and State - It Exists.

In light of the sudden rise to political prominence of candidates like Christine O’Donnell, it is more important than ever to be critically aware of basic facts about the country in which we live. At a recent debate with her Democratic opponent Chris Coons, O’Donnell seemed shocked to hear that the separation of church and state was guaranteed by the First Amendment; her campaign team afterwards claimed that she in fact knew what the First Amendment was but believed Coons was wrong in saying that it guaranteed the separation of church and state because that specific phrase doesn’t appear. Let’s make this clear once and for all: just because the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear verbatim in the First Amendment does not mean that it is not ensured by it.



In a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists from January 1802, he highlighted the importance of the Constitution “Building a wall of separation between Church & State,” referencing the First Amendment specifically as the source of this wall. That one of the founders of the United States would stress that the First Amendment does indeed separate church and state should be enough for everyone, but apparently it’s not.

In that case, take a look at the Treaty of Tripoli from 1797 which was signed by President John Adams. Intended as a peace negotiation between the United States and Tripoli, this document clearly states in Article 11: “The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” Given that President Adams, who was a Christian, approved this document, he obviously had no problem with the statement that the United States is not a Christian nation by government – incidentally, it really seems like the only groups protesting the separation of church and state are Christian in nature, and yet here is a document signed by a founder of this country that says they have no right to implement their religious beliefs in government matters.

It is easy to see, then, that the United States of America guarantees the separation of church and state in the First Amendment. So to Ms. O’Donnell, Sarah Palin, and every other individual who believes that the United States is meant to be governed in a Christian manner or to pass laws that reflect religious ideology: Please, be aware of history before opening your mouth (For all of our sake).

No, It's Not a Secret.

What are our feelings about the above advertisement? It was created by The Breast Cancer Fund in the United States, but was rejected by advertising spaces by Viacom "over fears that its depiction of mastectomy scars would prove to be too shocking to the public".

I think this brings up an interesting discussion. It is not uncommon for the fight against breast cancer to be over sexualized to get heterosexual men involved and interested in the cause.



Personally, I think the showing a picture of a scar is completely appropriate and something the average American woman should be exposed to. As a senior nursing major, I’ve seen final stage, full blown breast cancer (google images and then decide how “shocking” a scar is) and let me tell you, a mastectomy scar is not “too shocking”, even for the public. And let’s speak the truth here, it’s more often times than not the “shocking” stuff that get people to be concerned about their personal health. Why don’t we try and do our country some good and oh, I don’t know, ban harmful tobacco or alcohol advertisements?

Why Cleveland Women were “Invisible?”

How could 11 women in the same town disappear over two years without public notice? The story of the 11 women disappearing in Cleveland was an intriguing and emotional one. They were all bound to the quiet neighborhood of Mount Pleasant, where they grew lived before disappearance, all mothers, some grandmothers, and some second cousins. Almost all struggled with a drug addiction at some point in their lives. Court records show many resorted to stealing and some turned to prostitution to support their habits. Tonia Carmichael was seen by some as superwoman, she used to fly out to do overtime at work and sneak back with a storm of gifts for her children. She was the best person in the world, hard working, dedicated, an unstoppable force. But by the time her youngest was 12; she had become increasingly become addicted to cocaine and was no longer his super mom but a crack cocaine addict, as said in the CNN Justice Article. She would randomly leave and disappear for days or even weeks so when she was confirmed missing on November 10, 2008 it was no surprise to her children. Her older daughter was so upset with her; she respected her and loved her mother but hated her ways. At the time that she went missing Crystal Dozier, 38, Tishanna Culver, 29, Le'Shanda Long, 25, and Michelle Mason, 44 were missing too. Six more women would disappear after 52-year-old Tonia: Kim Yvette Smith, 43, Nancy Cobbs, 43, Amelda Hunter, 46, Telacia Fortson, 31, Janice Webb, 48, Diane Turner, 38.

These women were found in October 2009 -- all on one man's property, Anthony Sowell. Police believe the women were easy prey for Anthony, a convicted sex offender who served 15 years for the attempted rape of a woman in 1989. Sowell, now 51, had moved to the home on Imperial Avenue in 2005, after his release from prison. He has been charged with eleven murders, two rapes, one attempted rape and more than seventy other related charges. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and is scheduled to go to trial in February 2011, according to the prosecutor's office.

Since the bodies were discovered, other women have come forward, alleging Sowell attacked them. The bodies were not found for so long because people did not believe they were dead, and even if they were people believed it was their own fault. Some observers suggest the location of the crimes explains why the bodies went overlooked. There is a suspicion echoing among Cleveland residents, particularly in the black community: that the lives of poor black women aren't worth much, certainly less than if they had been suburban white women. The lives of these women were overlooked and ignored due to a nasty addiction, and this dismissal has lead them to a cease in their lifetime.

The bodies at Sowell's home were finally discovered when a 36-year-old Cleveland woman went to police. On September 23, 2009, she reported that Sowell had invited her into his home for beer. Her description of what happened there was eerily similar to the events laid out by Sowell's 1989 victim and later by Gladys Wade, a victim who frantically reached out to police about her incident. They entered his home on October 29, 2009. First, they discovered two bodies rotting in the attic, then five more buried in the backyard. Eventually the body count reached eleven. This man devastated homes and took away lives, which he had no right to. These women left behind children and grandchildren who will never get the change to know them because they lives were cut too short. Do you believe that the lives of these women were worthless and their deaths should have been ignored? Is it okay that when white women disappear there is more media coverage and community focus on the issue? Ask yourself!

You Can Make it Better

 [Originally posted on Imagine Today]

Today is National Coming Out Day, and I have a lot of things to say. First off, I figure today’s about as a good a day as any to come out and say it, so I will…


I’m queer! :)

For those who know me in real life this often comes as a bit of a surprise, since my relationship of three years appears, for all intents and purposes, heterosexual. For that matter, all of my past relationships have been heterosexual. So how can I be queer? It’s simple, really, I just am. This line, from an anonymous post on Feministing, does a great job of wrapping up how I feel about my sexuality in just a few short words: “I hate being in a world that defines my sexuality by the person whose hand I am holding.”

I realized about a year ago, thanks to the support of my partner, that I’m attracted to women as well as men. So, for quite some time, I was calling myself bisexual and that was fine. Until I sat down to think about it: its no secret that I don’t really believe in a binary gender system – I think people should feel free to define gender however they want! Given that, I began to wonder… how can I call myself bisexual when I don’t believe in a binary gender system? The answer was simple… I couldn’t. Luckily for me as all of this reflection came around the same time as last years National Coming Out Day. At the event one of the speakers got up and defined herself as queer because she likes people for who they are not what they are… and the light bulb went off. Queer. That’s what I am, simple as that.

Its as simple as that now… but it wasn’t always so simple to be open and proud about who I was.

Before I even started thinking about my sexuality I was teased endlessly. Junior High School was where it really became unbearable, but as early as kindergarten I can remember being picked on.

They made fun of my hairy legs, so I cried and cried until my mom let me shave them.

They made fun of my clothes, so I spent hours in front of my closet each night obsessing over what to wear.

They made fun of my weight so I started to diet, off and on. The worse it got, the more I obsessed over food.

They made fun of the things I liked so I stopped talking to people, I learned to bring a book with me everywhere so I could hide.

Eventually it got to the point where I felt like there was nothing I could do. I had changed everything I could think to change so it must not be anything I’m doing… there must be something about me that just doesn’t fit. I honestly believe that, looking back, those will be the darkest times of my life because I hated myself then. The one and only reason I got through it was because both of my parents took the time to talk to me and let me know that it would get better.

“I don’t know why people always say these are the best times of your life,” I can still remember my mother saying. “Being a teenager sucks, I hated my high school years… but you won’t be a teenager forever, and it won’t be like this forever.”

I didn’t really believe her at the time, but her words coupled with my father’s constant reminders to “be a good person” lead me to turn my ostracism into something positive. I stopped avoiding the other bullied kids, and started to make friends with them, even sticking up for them when people were mean… its not like I had anything to lose. By the time I escaped that school district to go to a private school where no one knew me I had actually made a few friends to keep in touch with. My self-esteem was rock-bottom when I left that school, but I was hopeful because I had a fresh start ahead of me.

The way I handled that fresh start is something that I am still ashamed of today. In a desperate bid to start over I distanced myself from the girls who obviously did not fit in. My self esteem was still awful but I did everything I could not to show it, to make all of the other people in my all girls school think that I was confident and popular and that I had never been anything else. I was never the most popular, but I was never made fun of as far as I knew; I was never mean to anyone’s face… but I did my fair share of talking behind people’s backs with the friends I had and for that, I am sorry.

Now I am in college. As cheesy as it sounds, somewhere along this journey I found myself and I found a group of friends that I never have to worry about impressing. I stll get crap from people for being who I am… the difference is, I don’t really care what the people who choose to make fun of me think. Now, I do everything I can not to bully people period. Not to their faces or behind their backs, because I recognize how damaging it is. I went from bullied to bully because I was afraid that if I didn’t put others down I would be the one getting made fun of. I am not unique… so many bullies were also bullied, its a vicious cycle that takes a lot of bravery to stop but it can be stopped.

My parents were right, just like Dan Savage and all of the people who have made videos for the “It Gets Better” project are right… it can get better, but it won’t get better on its own, we have to make it better. We have to make it better by being better than all of the people who fall into this vicious cycle.

We have to be strong enough to live lives openly as our true selves, and recognize that the people who don’t accept us for ourselves are the wrong ones, not us.

We have to be strong enough to find the good in everyone around us and to treat strangers with love so that we can help other bullied people grow stronger.

We have to be strong enough to see the potential for bullying in ourselves and hold it down.

We have to be strong enough to see the bullies and know that they are scared and lonely, just like the bullied, so that we can reach out to them and help them to stop hurting others.

It gets better, you can make it better… just by being you.

Lt. Dan Choi at Ramapo College, Question and Answer

Here's the video footage from the question and answer session that followed Lt. Choi's speech, enjoy!

Who has the right way to serve?

There had been so much buzz about Lt. Dan Choi’s visit at our campus and aside from meeting him and getting a personal hug, excitement has really died down for many people from the outside. They have expressed their unhappiness with the Judicial decision of killing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Just last week as I was talking to my family and friends about this issue. We know a veteran and he was at our house, and he really disliked the fact that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is gone. He said to me, “what? Are you serious?! That is just horrible and we hate that Korean guy!” and I said to him, “there is absolutely nothing wrong with gay soldiers serving for the country. Why do you think that anyway?” and he gave me some facts as to why that would be terrible. He says that the bathrooms are open and you’ll never know if that person is staring at you while you’re showering, it feels so awkward. He then added that it is just wrong that gay soldiers are even allowed to sleep in the same barracks as straight soldiers do. Obviously the conversation was cut short since one of my family members said that it was such an inappropriate conversation at the dinner table and we should all just skip to the other topic, and that was how it ended.


So as I was going through jezebel.com I found an interesting view of this subject and here is an excerpt of the response in the article:
"There's no absolute right to serve. Men under the height of 5 feet, 2 inches can't serve - I don't see anybody protesting. Where are the people standing in front of the White House, the short guys standing in front of the White House? You don't see it," Bielat said. "We understand that there's no absolute right to serve in all these other areas."



TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTCILE, PLEASE VISIT:
http://gawker.com/5672745/if-short-people-cant-join-the-military-why-should-gays

Lt. Dan Choi at Ramapo: Keynote Speech

Lt. Dan Choi's Keynote Speech for Queer History Month 2010 is now up on youtube for everyone to watch! If you didn't have a chance to come out and see Lt. Choi in person, the full speech is included in this blog post. Lt. Choi is an incredibly funny, engaging, and passionate speaker... his speech is definitely worth watching! Check back on Monday for exclusive video footage of the question and answer session.

Dan Choi at Ramapo College!

Last night Ramapo was lucky enough to welcome Lt. Dan Choi to speak on our campus in honor of Queer History Month. Lt. Choi has been getting quite a bit of media attention over the last few days as a result of the roller-coaster ride Don't Ask Don't Tell has gone through.

At the time of Lt. Choi's speech the policy had been suspended, after an order from the Pentagon supported the U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips' October 12th ruling. Just a few minutes after Lt. Choi stepped off the stage we were informed that an appeals court had put on a stay on the original ruling, and that the Obama administration is filing an appeal to the court decision that suspended the law in the first place.

Below are two news clips that featured the speech, they aired last night (10/20) on the ABC and CBS 11pm news! Several Women's center staffers and friends made it into the video... Ali Melillo, President of Ramapo Pride, even got to speak on camera! Shane Hoff, the Women's Center QPS responsible for coming up with and organizing this event was also interviewed by ABC News.





Keep posted for the full uncut speech that Lt. Choi gave to over three hundred members of the Ramapo community! That video will be up within the next few days. After that we will feature exclusive video footage of the question and answer section that took place after the event!

FDNY: Not Hiring Until Discrimination Stops

About time!

A Brooklyn judge ruled on Tuesday that the FDNY cannot hire until the exam that applicants must take prior to being employed is non-discriminatory towards minorities.

[Read an article about this here!]

You can read more about this issue practically anywhere. But I would really like everyone to get a taste of the types of comments posted after this article… I’ll just post them and let you decide how ignorant these people really are.

***********

Hope1958
4:09:48 PM
Oct 19, 2010
I know I would just love to fight fires with a bunch of dopes who had to have a dumbed down test just so they could pass. This is just disgusting.

giff
4:11:22 PM
Oct 19, 2010
I haven't seen the written test, so bear with me. Was this test supposed to be printed in Eubonics, Spanish or just plain English? Maybe Chinese, Russian, Greek, etc.? Where lies the problem? I was under the impression that "qualified" meant quality, not quantity! Somebody explain to me the problem! Thank you!

ThisAintRight
4:22:24 PM
Oct 19, 2010
Have to agree with the judges decision. The FDNY test does discriminate against the Illiterates, Dumb Arses, Low IQ and those that just want to work out at the fire house! What an IDIOT is this judge that made that finding. He needs to get a reality check. The dumbing down of NYC continues at a more politically correct pace!
**************

This world has some quality individuals in it, let me tell you.

Meet the Women's Center: Michelle and Janelle

Name: Michelle Cresci
Position: Office Manager
Major: Nursing
Year: Senior

Michelle's favorite Ice Cream flavor is Chocolate with Reese's Cups.

She is most looking forward to is Dan Choi, who is coming to Friend's Hall tomorrow to talk about social justice! Cue shameless plug...

Choi is a former US Army infantry officer who served in combat in the Iraq war during 2006-2007. He became an LGBT rights activist following his coming out on The Rachel Maddow Show in March 2009 and has been publicly challenging America's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which forbids LGBT service members from serving openly. Tickets are now being sold at Roadrunner Central with a $5 deposit which will be given back to at the door. Hurry! Tickets are going fast!

Getting back to the interview... One fun fact about Michelle is that she loves to sing/play guitar, but finds it extremely difficult to perform in front of others.

Her favorite YouTube video is Boy Sees Lobster For First Time.

Name: Janelle Talingdan
Position: Program Coordinator
Major: Psychology
Year: Junior

Janelle's favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry cheesecake ice cream, preferably from Dairy Queen.

She is excited for all the upcoming events, since it's her first semester at Ramapo! Janelle thinks that is is going to be  fun and interesting to see and experience all the fabulous events we have planned.

One fun fact about Janelle is that she loves to pop bubble wrap or balloons to de-stress herself!

Her favorite Youtube video is Jessica's "Daily Affirmation."



Past Staff Interviews:
Corey &  Shane
Laura & Ashley

Happy Fat Talk Free Week!

Today starts Fat Talk Free Week, a nation-wide campaign striving to end "fat talk" and negative self-talk. We've all heard it..."I feel so fat!" "I need to go on a diet" "Does this dress make me look fat?" This language is in our vocabularies and has become such a custom of ours. We beat ourselves down and have learned not only to not respect and love our bodies but to harm ourselves in trying to conform to the ridiculous beauty standards we face on a daily basis. Let's do something to change this!

We are all beautiful...learn to love yourself!



- Becky

An Important Message from Joel Burns

This video may be a little long, but it is well worth the watch. In the wake of everything that has been going on in the past few weeks, it is so important that we all do what we can to ensure that no one ever feels driven to harmful actions due to the intolerance of others.

For Ramapo College students and faculty, Ramapo PRIDE is selling purple ribbons in the Women's Center for $1.00 as part of their "Spirit Day" fundraiser, with part of the proceeds going to The Trevor Project.

Take Back the Night...Next Week!

In conclusion to our Violence Awareness Week, we had scheduled Take Back the Night, an empowering speak out and march for survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Due to forecasted weather conditions for tonight, we are postponing the speak out and march to next Thursday, October 21st @ 7pm in the Alumni Lounges. We hope to see people come out to support, empower others, and take back the night!

WHAT DOES A FEMINIST LOOK LIKE?

Feminism, a word that once meant empowering women, creating equal rights for all, pursuing strength in the community has been ignored and even disclaimed by the new generation. When a man believes women should have equal rights why are they bashed for being a feminist or even dehumanized as a man? Why is it when a woman expresses her desire for equal rights for woman she most often follows it up with “but I am not a feminist?” It has come to a point where women are judged and misrepresented by a title created to bring women and men together not single us out. The title has swayed so many people away from the idea of feminism, and created a stigmatized symbol of negativity in the feminist movement.

Misconceptions about feminism cause blurred ideals of what a feminist is and what their appearance may be. What does a feminist look like might you ask? According to the stereotypes we would believe in order to be deemed as a feminist you must be loud and abrasive, a man-hating lesbian, give up makeup and skirts, stop shaving everything, and abandon your religion. Now as it may be realistic that some feminists choose to behave and appear in this manner, but they should not box all feminists into this category of behavior. A woman or man should not be judged, discriminated against, or misrepresented because they believe in equal rights. Also, if feminists did all happen to look and behave in such manners, they have the right to be. If the characteristics I stated above were the actual representation of a feminist is that a legitimate reason to disclaim your beliefs? Has society become so dazed by image and so afraid to be different that we deny our true feelings and silence our opinions because we are seen as “weird.”

I believe feminists come in all shapes, sizes, colors, ethnicities, those who shave, and those who don’t: by all means are we really characterized by our arms and legs. It has been a fight for so long to provide equality, be respected as women, and be seen as a powerful force in the world, and to be along side men, maybe even ahead of them, but definitely not behind them. Stereotypes are negative and insulting to any group, feminists included. A core belief within the ideals of feminism lies in personal choices and individuality. No woman or feminist fits neatly into any mold; feminists celebrate the personal freedom to look, live, and just be the way that they are most comfortable. What does a feminist look like to you? It can be me, you, your brother, uncle, mother, grandfather, grandmother, no one is rejected from believing in rights to all.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

In case you couldn't make it to Walk a Mile this year, here's the condensed video version of the event!



Also check out the awesome pictures from the event...

Check out more pictures in the Walk a Mile Facebook Album!

Less than two weeks until Lt. Dan Choi visits us here at Ramapo College and I couldn't be more psyched! Looking forward to meeting this extraordinary individual in person!




If you would like to find out ticket information please email me at qps@ramapo.edu!

Another Technological Innovation… Puppy Tweets???

So this week, after all the stress I’ve been through I decided that I will post a random funny blog so that I forget all the worries about my entire week, and yey! I found the most random thing to blog about. HAHA

Yes everyone… you read the title correctly, our lovely puppies can now tweet what they are doing by using Puppy Tweets. This takes social networking to another level, Mattel is introducing a toy created canine community by associating consumers’ love of pets and with the oh-so-popular Twitter.

The Puppy Tweets comes with a USB receiver and a plastic dog tag that has a sensor to tell you what your dog is doing, and posts it as a tweet on twitter. The dog tag has pre-recorded tweets that are triggered by the dog’s activities through the sensors that are attached to it. If your dog is barking you might get a Tweet like “Bark…and the whole neighborhood barks with you!” When it’s sleeping, look out for “Had a wonderful dream about you. You were bringing me snacks!” And at lunch your puppy might say “You at lunch? Remember the two most beautiful words in the English language: DOGGIE BAG!”


Amazing isn’t it? Technology has evolved so much; look what it can do these days. As much as it creeps me out, I think it’s pretty legit! Here is the Puppy Tweet Website, where you can purchase Puppy Tweets via Amazon: http://puppytweet.com/. It’s available additionally at Target and Toys R Us, and they sell for $30.00. I wonder what else they come up with next time.

Ramapo Coming Out Day Delivers Hope

This Monday Ramapo celebrated Coming Out Day – a yearly event where members of the queer community and straight allies share their stories about coming out. The event has always been an overwhelmingly bright and cheerful celebration of community and support in my opinion, and this year was no different. The love and hope that was present under the rainbow balloon arch was just as strong as ever; it was inspiring to see that, despite the fact that it was a cold and rainy day, so many people came out to voice their support.

Even though everything was seemingly the same as in past years, it still feels different for me and I think that difference lies in just how much the hope and love and support was needed this year. In light of the six recent suicides, the usual cheerful and celebratory atmosphere of Queer History Month in general has taken on heaviness, at least for me.

It is heartbreaking that the world had to lose six wonderful people because of homophobia and bullying. As heartbreaking as it is though, I think its important to remember that this doesn’t have to keep happening. We can drown out the hurtful messages that people in society send with messages of love and hope and, in doing this, save lives.

On Sunday NYU held a vigil (organized by last year’s QPS Zaneta!!) in Washington Square Park to remember these six boys. Governor David Paterson spoke at the event. Despite the rain over two thousand people attended this moving event. According to one news article about the event:

“For almost an hour, neon red, blue, green, and yellow glow-sticks illuminated the umbrella-covered vigil. After several speeches, thousands sang, “Over The Rainbow,” then chanted, repeatedly, “human rights for all.”

Others, as they exited the park around 10:00 PM took time to write messages of love and hope on the asphalt walkways, knowing they would soon be consumed by the rain.”

On the 20th everyone is encouraged to wear purple in honor of the six men who died as a result of homophobia. Purple represents spirit on the LGBT Pride flag. We are doing other things to memorialize these boys at the WC as well, including making a huge banner to send to the Rutgers LGBT Center and creating buttons to distribute for the 20th.

I think its really important to think about what we all can personally do to honor the memory of all of the people who have died in this way. If we all promise to stop judging other people for who they are – and to treat everyone around us with respect, at the very least, we can change this culture. Six boys have already died in such a short amount of time but we as a society have the power to keep it from becoming seven, or eight, or nine, or more simply by calling out bullying in our daily lives and refusing to engage in it ourselves.

More Information & Resources:

The It Gets Better Project
Sometimes we fight back by merely surviving: A missive for the bullied.
September’s Anti-Gay Bullying Suicides – There Were A Lot More Than 5

Who could say it better than Ellen?

The “Trail”

Here at Ramapo College, there is a trail that goes through the woods behind a couple residence halls. The official name is Sequoia, but students commonly refer to it as “The Rape Trail.” I’d really like to know where this name came from and what makes it ok to call a part of our campus something so crude and offensive. Most students don’t even know the official title because it is so often called the wrong thing. To my knowledge, there has never been an incident there. And even if there was, why would people want to call more attention to an act of sexual violence? Just hearing the dubbed nickname, I shudder.

I’d like to point out that rape is not something to joke about or just say haphazardly. It is a serious offense and horrible experience that I don’t think anyone would want to go through. Anyone that thinks it’s ok to use this vernacular, in my opinion, is heartless and insensitive. By using the word casually, people make light of an extremely serious situation. Using the term will only re-enforce the use of it. Not to mention, you may not know if you are saying it in front of a survivor of sexual assault. Why can’t we just say “The Trail” or here’s an idea…actually call it by the real name???

In light of recent conversations regarding this issue, I find that this is a perfect example of a “Red Dot” or type of Interpersonal Violence. And how convenient that we are kicking off the Green Dot Campaign! An example of a Green Dot is doing such things as calling someone out when they tell a joke about sexual assault. By doing this, we are countering the red dots and preventing such acts of Interpersonal Violence. Discussing this issue to no avail with a select group of people has only made me want to promote this campaign even more. Obviously the few individuals that I interacted with are not the only ones that use the term. Let’s strive to eliminate the use completely, as well as other offensive and hurtful sayings, jokes, etc. that we come across. So what’s your Green Dot?

Culture Clash

Last Sunday, a Philippine woman was confronted about her newly born baby she left in an airport trash can. The woman was returning home to Manila and was having labor pains on the plane. She gave birth to the baby at the airport as the plane was landing. She left the baby because she was afraid of what her parents would think of her when she got to their house.

The woman was allegedly raped by her employer, for whom she was working as a maid in Qatar. When she became pregnant her employer's wife forced her to return home. She managed to hide her pregnancy and board a flight. She was unaware that she was going to have the baby on the plane but once she did have it, in her eyes it was the perfect opportunity to leave the baby behind. She was in excessive need for a solution seeing as though she was raped, unemployed, and didn’t know how to tell her parents.

However, the fact does remain that she did leave her baby who was announced alive when found in a trash bag from the plane restroom. The baby was blue and a few minutes away from dying. She was fearful of the way her family would treat her and to what extent would she be affected by their decisions. The family had not seen her for since last June when she had gone to work in Qatar for the next three years, so when she did arrive they were surprised. The real reasoning behind her not wanting to bring the baby home was because she already had a husband and two children back home.

What would you have done if you were in her shoes? She is now facing child abandonment charges, lawsuits and DNA testing to see if she is the child’s biological mother. Child custody issues are also now in effect just incase she is not granted access to have custody. She was willing to leave her baby behind due to family views and her personal beliefs. Was she wrong for what she had done, did she make the right choice, and now that her baby was found alive should she be allowed to have him back? This woman was scared and pushed to the limit emotionally, and financially. Is she going to be able to afford another baby? Would it be in the child’s best interest to be adopted? Would her giving the baby away change the damage done and the views of her parents?

The woman was forced out after her employers wife realized she had been pregnant, even though her husband had been neglecting her and using her as a sex plaything for his personal pleasure, the survivor was punished. Their relationship was not consensual and the woman was afraid to say anything because she would be out of work. Then she was forced to face the fact that her parents may not accept her and the baby seeing that she went against their religious beliefs. How does this culture clash between her parents’ beliefs and her personal desire to keep her baby effect her decision? I believe she was wrong for abandoning her baby but was she pressured to make that decision? Many would agree that she was but will the courts realize that? She wants her baby and wants to be there so she should be granted that role, but at the same time if her family was going to be upset regardless was it worth doing? This is a phenomenal story I advise you all to read up about it.