Hello, Okay, so LGBT+ is supposed to be one coherant group set out to help eachother, but often, I find discrimination even within the group. Why does this happen? Tajfel et al. In group and out group study suggests it needs to be LGBT+ against the world.
Well, I'll set up a few scenarios here Steven is a transgender guy who is into women, making him straight. Let's just say he's also homophobic, and he gags at the sight of a gay person. John is a gay guy, who sees another really cute guy. He flirts with the guy, but finds out the guy is transgender. John complains, saying he wanted a 'real man, not some tranny' (please note that it's perfectly fine to prefer people with certain parts, and you can still be respectful) Jennifer is a lesbian. She gets a new girlfriend, but finds out she's bisexual. She breaks up with her girlfriend because she "knows" that her girlfriend will leave her for a man instead.
Many, many reasons. Sometimes it is "I have got it worse than you" contest to get more sympathy and support. Sometimes it is elitism trying to excludes others and create a sense of superiority. Sometimes it is because they have become what they fought against. And many more reasons. You can do years of research on this and still not getting to the core of the problem if there is even one. We just have to figure out how to best support each other right now and hope that everyone is on board.
First, because virtually no group is so coherently monolithic that all members agree with all other members about all things all the time. That's just part of human nature, as is the tendency to see 'other groups' as somehow being more unified (and more devious and more capable and more intelligent) than they really are. Second, because we may be LGBT+, but we are also part of the world. So expecting us to all be 'us vs them' is both unrealistic and probably counterproductive. Third, because just because someone is 'non-straight' that does not automatically make them a saint or friend to all other non-straights any more than someone being straight makes them a saint or an automatic friend to all other straights. The examples of Steven, John, and Jennifer provided earlier are examples of people being asshats not of anything tied to a particular orientation or gender identity or whatever. Todd
There are asshole everywhere. You'd think that with all the discrimination we face, perhaps we would be a bit more open-minded and less will to judge since we know how it feels, but unfourtunately people in this world are slowly lose what little empathy they have and before you know it everyone will be a sociopath.
Why is the easy bit - because we are people. We have our own opinions and our own weaknesses. We don't all fit into our own niche so I Guess we need to accept that.
It's pretty common in minorities (and even some persecuted majorities) to have a sort of... power hierarchy within them. For people who are discriminated against, they may feel a lack of power, so they have to cling on to the power that they do have, to in some cases create fear so that they can gain respect from others. Take the book Mice and Men by John Steinbeck for example.... Spoiler (contains spoilers for those who haven't read the book, read at your own risk). The character Curley's wife has very little rights. She is in a persecuted majority (very much so at the time anyway in the 1930's when the book was set), so much so that she is treated like a possession (hence Curley's wife, she's never referred to by name and is not seen as her own person). Women in the 1930's in America were often treated as worth less than men and were only seen as good for marriage and housekeeping for the most part. Crooks is a stable buck working at the same ranch that Curley's wife is staying at. He's black, and in 1930's America there was still a lot of racial inequality and bias. Being the only black guy on the ranch, Crooks is in the minority here compared to the others. Now, since Curley's wife is white, she has more power than Crooks does. She uses this to her advantage when Crooks tries to stand up to her, Curley's wife asserts her power by threatening that she can call rape on him quite easily, and he should remember his place. By doing so she creates a sense of fear which gives her a sense of power, which she enjoys but does not get to feel very often due to her status. There's also the fact that being part of the LGBT+ community does not necessarily mean that you are going to be without question 100% accepting of others. There are ass-holes in all communities and walks of life.
This is my second time learning the book since I'm currently redoing my English GCSE, so I pretty much know the book inside out at this point.
