So comments like these made me want to hear some responses. Alot of homophobic straight people seem to believe it is NOT brave to come out, because being against equality is rarer. I highly disagree with this, as I'm sure most of you do. It especially hurts because it makes me feel completely ignored. It seems to me that they are outright denying the vast array of evidence displaying the everyday discrimination, hate, ignorance and suffering that LGBT+ individuals have to go through every single day. What do you say to people like this? Here is the example that set me off: Spoiler Jason Collins has been called Brave for coming out as an openly Gay NBA player. Tell me how is this brave in today's society. The definition of Brave is "Ready to face and endure danger or pain." What danger or pain has he faced by coming out? All I've seen is an outpouring of support and even a phone call from the president himself (who obviously isn't too busy right now) to say how proud he was in him. There has been little to no negativity to this announcement from any media, celebrities or any source of that matter. This coming out to me isn't a brave statement by Collins, it's a regular day occurrence nowadays. Yet people have compared it to Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. Tell me how coming out today would be anything like Jackie playing baseball. Jackie had to actually endure danger and pain when he broke the color barrier. His life was threatened, he was ridiculed. The only thing similar is they are the 1st to do something in their sport. 1st openly gay player and 1st black player in MLB. Other than that they are in no way similar. If you really want to be brave today, announce that you are proud to be a Christian(IE-Tim Tebow) or proud to be straight(Chris Broussard) or even proud to be White(I'll admit it I'm proud to be white, that doesn't make me racist though).These three things are more likely to bring hatred towards you than announcing you are gay. ---Take Hands on Originals in lexington for example. They decided not to print shirts for a Gay/Lesbian walk in Lexington about a year or two ago because one of the owners did not support gay lifestyles. Immediately following that Hands on Originals lost a lot of business and had a lot of bad publicity due to the fact they did not support Gays and Lesbians. Why is it ok to speak out in support of the gay lifestyle but if you speak against it you will most likely lose your job or business. It's not brave to announce that you are gay or even in support of gays. To say that you don't agree or don't support gays, that's brave nowadays. You want a brave statement? I'm *name* and I'm proud to be a Straight, White, God Fearing human being. If you think that makes me a racist bigot then I guess that's something you don't understand. That is from a friend of a Facebook friend of mine. I saw it because my Facebook friend, who's really an aquaintance, posted this: "Just read an inspiring post by an old friend speaking out about his lifestyle - *linked name* you are a brave man" Sad. I used to have a crush on this friend too. Another neutral aquaintance of mine liked this man's post, which makes it even sadder. There was a red equal sign attached to something he reposted not too long ago and I thought, maybe, he's a friend.
LOLOLOL. This belongs on the tumblr shitstraightwhiteguyssay. Obviously he has no idea about anything relating to oppression or privilege. He's the one with the power.
No offence that guy who made the FB post is a dick. Like stuffiscool said, he's clueless about discrimination, oppression and privilege. If your going to make a comment about the prevailing attitudes in sports and by extension, the society you live in, at least have a basic understanding of what your talking about. There is a massive problem with homophobia in the US (and in the UK too) especially when it comes to sports. Racism and sexism is still around as just as rife. To answer your question "What do you say to people like this?" I simply don't waste my energy on people like that. Maybe I'm being a little bit harsh at least he didn't say anything like 'Jason Collins is a pervert who should writhe in eternal hellfire for all eternity for being a fag' or whatever.
Completely agree. It really should be there. I'd copy it and send it in. (or however tumblr pages work. I don't really get on it...)
This whole article is coming from straight privilege. It's disgusting. Queer people get beaten up and killed all the time, and as long as they have to fear that, coming out will always be brave. It's extremely hurtful and erases our struggle and our suffering completely.
This person's logic is flawed and does not make any sense. I feel that coming out, especially if you are in the spotlight (i.e. a famous athlete), is a very brave thing to do. I personally would bring to his attention that people of the LGBTQ community are at risk of facing danger/enduring pain in a number of ways. A man coming out is breaking that "orientation" barrier, if you will. As a role model to younger kids, other athletes, fans, etc., peers may expect him to be a particular way. His coming out may or may not conflict with these views which can result in him becoming a target of possible hate speech, or supported. In addition, Collins is an athlete, meaning he shares the locker room with other players. Depending on how his teammates relate to homosexuality, they may or may not be comfortable or even aggressive towards the thought of sharing this area with a gay man. These are just a few examples that I feel should be brought to his attention.
You're right, but I think it does deep than that. There is a word I am looking for and I can't quite find it. When I see stuff like this, it has this sense of naive jealousy to it. Like they've never been through any hardship themselves, so they belittle others and trump up theirs.
Interesting. I'm tempted to not let this go, even though I don't know the guy. His profile was public, and I had to read that and feel hurt, so. I feel sad that these two guys I know believe this. I mean, wow. I guess.. I guess I thought they weren't that ignorant. On a lighter note, I think my friend who lead me to his post got some karma. His post today: "To the person who stole my debit card information and bought 72 dollars worth of flowers with - I hope you die alone .... God I'm so pissed ..." Teehee. Fuckin' flowers! I'm not really one to laugh at that, just, I don't know. I giggled a little. :/ I'm sure both of them have their own struggles in life and I wouldn't want to discredit that, even if they discredit mine. Oh, here are the responses to that guy's post (if anyone finds this interesting like I do because I'm a weirdo): Spoiler *my other friend* and 13 others like this. Commenter 1: "Plan to add unemployed to that list... I appreciate your bravery" *my friend* likes this. Original Poster: "Thanks for proving my point." *name* likes this. My Friend: "That was deep and very inspiring" Commenter 2: "If we're going by the definition of brave, when was Tebow, or any of the others, threatened or made to endure danger or pain?" Original Poster: " NFL Analysts: Tim Tebow Hated Because of His Faith | NewsBusters The first link I could find." Commenter 2: "Even still, that's just negative reactions. People are reacting negatively towards Collins' outing, but he's not out in danger. Based on that article, neither was Tebow. I'm not on sides, I'm just saying based on the definition, neither Tebow nor Bourssard were being "Brave". However, I do respect your message of standing for what you believe in." Commenter 2: "Broussard**"
I don't think it was particularly brave to say " I'm _____ and I'm straight, white, and god fearing." There isn't much backlash you can experience for those qualities, and clearly they live under a rock - lgbtq people face violence and bigotry all ove the world. I don't have a problem with the person saying they are proud of who they are however - I think more people need to follow suit and be proud of who they are...regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, race, religion, etc.
I do agree with this part. I see no reason to condemn straight white Christian men who are proud to be who they are. We are ALL beautiful. We can speak up about how they are treating other people though. <3
I think it's a really brave thing to do. By coming out you are putting yourself in a really vulnerable position and exposing yourself to a the very real possibility that people will discriminate against you, that others will judge you, that relationships with friends and family will be ruined and that you are much more likely to be the victim of verbal or physical attacks. So to stand up and basically say I'm ready to face all of these possibilities is incredibly brave.
Public figures coming out put themselves in the spotlight for their sexualities to be discussed and analyzed by complete strangers like this idiot - of course it's brave. This makes me extremely angry for personal reasons as well. I barely know anyone who isn't homophobic, and coming out is going to be ugly for me and I really don't want to hear about how homophobia is all over and isn't it nice that we all get along now.
