ok so im sure everyone knows about Jason Collins coming out, but there seems to be a huge focus on what people said about his coming out, Chris Brouusard (sp) on espn had some not so grea,to things to say , which i wasnt surprised by its normal talk for a religious person, his basic message was " the LGBT lifestyle was wrong and it was an open rebellion and war on god. Normally i dont care about that its normal , but alot of people have taken a huge offensive to what he said the Gay Marriage USA page on facebook started a petition to get ESPN to denounce what chris said and i think they hope he is fired. i take issue with this because its just not helping our cause to be treated equally we look like whiny , hypocrtical low self esteem people, who demand people apoligize everytime we dont like what someone said , its his right to believe what he wants and say what he wants , just like its my right to say what i want. We cant live our lives gfetting offended every time we turn around people are always gonna say things that we might not like , but thats on them, if we know who we are and are not ashamed its just water of a ducks back ( I love you Jinx!) i mean do i think what he said was stupid and maybe hurful yeah it prolly was but so what its part of having good self esteem and no not everyone has to like you but that your still ok. Its like RuPaul said " What other people think of me is none of my buisness" anyways am i wrong on this ? what do you all think of this whole situation?
The problem is that this isn't just some disconnected opinion. It isn't just water off a duck's back. Beliefs like his lead to gay kids getting disowned by their parents, thrown out of the house, sent to conversion camps, and killing themselves, as well as gay adults getting disowned by their parents, denied housing, fired from their job, beat up on the street, and killing themselves. We need to fight against these opinions because they're used to justify our oppression. They're weapons of violence against us.
do you really think people wont already do these things on there own? that just because some sports writer says stuff like that? if we were talking crap about his religion he could say they samer about us and demand we apologize or have our boss denounce what we said then right?!? to me its hypocritical,unless he starts getting us barred from places or beats us up , we cant just demannd people apoligize for their own beliefs, he did say these are just my personal beliefs, which he does have a right to have , ie . freedom of religion.
What if I had been a famous person who said that the freedom and equality of black people is unnatural and a war against God`s natural order? Because people said crazy racist crap like that back in the 50/60s. They believed it too. Was that okay as well, and should people be allowed to say things like that without people reacting to it? That kind of statements encouraged to violence and discrimination towards those of a different skin color wanting to be treated as equals. When well known people throw out statements that encourage to discrimination then it is actually causing harm. And yeah, religious freedom is great, but what he is saying is that it`s his personal belief that some people should be discriminated against. The right of religious freedom does not include the right to decide what other people should believe and live by. By publicly stating this, he is influencing how people thing, possibly causing others to think like him, and also making LGBT youth feel that there`s something wrong with who they are. It could very well be my belief that Asian people are sub-humans who should stay in Asia (this is not true, just making an example, my GF is Chinese) but I wouldn`t go saying it out loud, because freedom of speech and religion is wonderful until it starts hurting people. And if I had said something like that, it would have hurt people. If my personal faith dictated that Asians didn`t belong in my society, it wouldn`t have been my personal faith anymore if I had actually stated this publicly to encourage discrimination of Asian people. If this was his personal faith, he should have kept it personal, not official, not throw it out there to cause harm to those he is believing so strongly against. I am not religious, but I don`t yell out that according to my personal belief religion is hurting people and getting them killed. It is what I personally believe, that religion can be very damaging, but if I was a famous person, or had access to share this belief I still wouldn`t, out of respect for those who could be affected by those words. And even if I felt religious people should be discriminated against, I still wouldn`t say it because I don`t believe in discrimination or hate speech. Anyone who officially delivers a statement that shows they support discrimination takes it out of a personal sphere and will simply have to accept the back lash.
i guess you have a point i dont know i guess i just learn to accept myself and not care what other says and i dont think people who never had a problem with gay people are just gonna say oh yeah i should hate them after seeing what he said, but i do see your point and i can understand why it wasnt something he should have said, i just worry people are gonna start calling us whiny cry babies if we demand an apology for every nasty comment and then the whole see they want speacial treatment and crap will start up.But like i said you do make very good points , i dont want to offend anyone or start a fight.
(*hug*) No, I understand, I do. But if someone wants to call us whiny babies for demanding respect and understanding as well as equality, then they`re the ones with a serious problem! What LGBT people want is not different from what other minority groups have been fighting for through history, and the counter arguments surprisingly similar. In fact, a lot of what they say now is just old material with a different target. And why not demand an apology where it`s owed us? I mean, most of us learn from a young age that if you`re disrespectful and obnoxious, you apologize for it. Trick is just teaching these people how what they are saying are harming others. If we let them know how it hurts us, it gives them a chance to rethink the message they are actually conveying. If we don`t point out a wrong, people will just continue doing it. Maybe if we point it out, 9/10 will ignore it, but that still means one person would have gotten his/her eyes up, so it`s not for nothing. And don`t worry, you didn`t offend me (*hug*) But free speech and free religion is being used a lot these days to afflict damage on others, and I think it`s important that people put thought to at what expense the free speech can be on. (&&&)
yeah i can deff agree with that , and more then anything peopleneed to realize its fine they have beliefs and religion but its very wrong to make others live their life in a way that makes them happy or comfortable.
Just one more point, it's not everyone who has a national audience with whom he can share his beliefs. Hence, there is a responsibility, when one has such a privileged position, to be especially sensitive to what is said on the air.
The issue is that Chris Brouusard is in an influential position in the media. His beliefs are his beliefs, but a lot of people look up to him and internalize his opinions (it is what he is paid to do) what he said was extremely unprofessional. For instance, replace The LGBT community with The Jewish community. ESPN would be shut down in minutes. I do think it makes us look whiny to sue and attempt to get him fired; however, does anyone remember when this happened not long ago with Chris Culliver of the 49rs? He made a public apology and everything was alright. I think Chris Brouusard will be doing the same very soon. Some people just love the taste of crow.
