Is the lgbt community forgetting the struggle ?

I get what you mean. I'll admit I often forget how bad it is in other parts of the country and world because I live in a pretty liberal area and while there is still homophobia all around, it's for the most part not severe where I live. I don't think there shouldn't be a community or labels though.

 

I often get "But LGBT+ people don't have it that bad anymore, look how accepted they are, it's not much of a thing anymore.". I agree to a degree - Thing aren't bad over here in Western Europe.

But that doesn't change the fact that there are still thousands of us getting shunned, mocked, attacked, alienated and disowned due to their orientation every day, in various parts of the world. That is still a problem. That still needs to change. And we mustn't stop fighting until it's fixed.

 

I am from Texas. I was 13 when the Supreme Court said it was OK for "us gays" to have sex with each other (Lawrence v. Texas). I didn't really expect to be able to marry a guy in my state one day (not that it's legal, but it may very well be in the next couple of years).

Honestly, from where we gay Texans started, where we're at is more than I'd ever hope for.

People who are younger than 20 at least grew up listening about gays in positive light in the media.

That said, we have a lot of work to reach parity with straight folks.

 

I live in a part of Indiana that it is evident we need a community. It is a small religious town that is still for the most part homophobic. Manufacturing is the way of life for many and gay men are open season in the workplace. I know of a few people who have been terminated for some made up reason by a supervisor or bullied out by coworkers. It was much nicer when I lived in the city where it was more accepted and there were actually LGBT events and social gatherings.

 

There are:
-20 countries where the punishment for being GSM is execution
-32 countries where the punishment is imprisonment
-6 countries where the punishment is life in prison
-4 countries where there is no/restricted freedom of expression
-54 countries signed a statement opposing GSM rights, and 46 others remain neutral
-Only 33 of the 50 US states legalized gay marriage
-29 US states where you can be fired for sexuality
-34 US states where you can be fired for gender identification
There is definitely homophobia in the world.
In countries all over the world, even "accepting" ones, kids are disowned based on gender or sexuality. And, GSM teens have the highest suicide and self harm rate. Not to mention the daily usage of GSM slurs as a common part of speech. GSM people are one of the few groups of people who you can discriminate against, oppose, and slur and still be a respected member of society.

 

They have to be pretty sheltered to think that, even in more accepting countries like the US there's still a lot of homophobia, and they're pretty much ignoring all the other countries in the world, some of which have a death penalty for being LGBT+. I hate how US-centric some people are, there's lots of other countries out there that we can't forget about. And some people (like trans people) still aren't very accepted so even though we've come a long way, we haven't fixed everything.

 

I laughed.

Hard.

:roflmao:

 

^This!

 

I think defining the struggle completed as the amount of states that have marriage equality is forgetting the struggle that plagues the trans community and homeless LGBT folks.

 

My point was supposed to be that even though the US is seen as a more accepting place by a lot of people, there's still a lot of homophobia/transphobia and it's nowhere near close to being a safe place for LGBT+ people. I don't even live in a safe place, I wasn't trying to imply that the US is LGBT+ friendly

 

Yeah, I would have to agree. I see this a lot with my peers (not here, of course, we've got a very aware, educated bunch). Marriage, much as we would like to think otherwise, isn't the end of the road. We are definitely making huge leaps and bounds all over the world, as far as mainstream acceptance.

But it definitely doesn't end there, especially when you consider just how many countries are out there where being LGBT is illegal.

 

I don't think people are forgetting the struggle. I just think it's stupid to always be feeling sorry for yourself. I see how labels are useful, but the more we use them, the more we alienate ourselves. Yes, I'm a gay person, but when it comes down to it all, I'm just a person. The more I keep emphasizing that I'm gay, the more other people will, too. It's simply just one facet of my personality.

 

It's even more of a shame when it comes from people who had obviously struggled themselves; unfortunately, it's not just the really privileged ones.

I can personally attest to this kind of ignorance. As I noted in the troubles thread, I've used various means to reach out to others and still occasionally get people who will start yelling at me about how offended they are(/offensive it is to those who are out) that I am closeted/not all the way comfortable with myself yet.

One guy in particular basically went on a long rant about how people like me are the reason that being lgbt is seen as bad, that we are the ones who make it look wrong, etc.

Yes, because we are all so very free of homophobia and nonsense and are just in the closet for the sake of it. Thanks for the kind words and helpfulness... /-.-

And, as others have noted above, it is even more saddening to see that there are still many, many of us all over the globe who are in situations where you could get jail time or even killed for simply seeming lgbt and people think we're in some utopia of a world?

 

too similar to "I don't see color" for my taste.

 

I do see color. I do realize that everyone is different. I don't think we're all the same. But the fact that we're all different makes us all the same in a way if that makes sense.

It's like this in my brain:

The world is less like this...

or this

We're obviously not all the same.


And more like this...

Yes there are distinct differences between all the fruits. You can grab a bowl and pick out which are the strawberries, which are the blueberries, but in the end, the bowl of mixed fruit is still a fruit salad.


I'm so hungry right now.

 

I'm sorry, I can't resist poking you - By whom exactly is the US seen as a more accepting place for LGBT+ ?...

I mean, really.
I've never heard that one before. I honestly did not.

I'd consider the US anything but, except for a few states.
And I know quite a few people who would agree with me on that.