How come people feel the need to announce that they are NOT gay but they support marriage equality? Like, all well & fine, thanks for being a supporter, but is it necessary to inform everyone that you're not gay? I don't say, "I'm gay and I support marriage equality." I just state the fact I support it.
i'm really sorry to admit this (from my own perspective), but it's a hell of a lot easier to dismiss someone gay who's screaming for gay marriage compared to someone straight screaming for gay marriage. because, after all, it would only be natural that gay people want their rights yeah? the goal is to persuade non-supporters to support. a minority speaking for minority rights isn't going to be heard by the majority. get where i'm going with this? the majority don't care if someone in the crowd is speaking for their own rights, because after all, "of course the gay would want gay rights". LOL sorry, but that explanation probably sucked
It's like if I said, "I'm not a criminal but I support shorter prison sentences," or something like that. Being gay shouldn't be a crime, of course, but lots of people think it should be and don't want to alienate those people.
I disagree that there's something bad about it. It's just saying that you support something because you believe it's the right thing to do, not because you're personally invested in it as LGBT people are. It's like saying, "I'm not a woman but I support women's suffrage."
I guess I can't blame people for putting some distance. I mean, I support the right for religious freedoms, but I always add "but I'm an atheist". It's just because people will accept your opinion more freely. Saying "I'm a fundamentalist Christian and church bells should ring in all cities" is not the same as saying "I'm an atheist, but I think bell ringing is a part of our heritage". Seeing how militant and aggressive gay prides are in the eyes of some people, I guess this makes sense. Dunno.
I agree with thebrightficus's point of view. It's probably natural to assume that those who support gay rights are themselves gay, so those who state that they aren't gay but still support gay rights are likely trying to dispel this assumption. Of course, there's also the possibility that the person making that statement is trying to put some distance in between him/herself and the gay community as a person who is merely trying to impress others by sounding open-minded but doesn't actually care for gays much at all.
