Why do people think and deny the way they do? Honestly, why do people deny that prejudices dont exist and they’re no big deal? This is what happened in my Seminar(Study block) on 3-25-08. The brief assignment that we have to do at the begining of each seminar was to get in groups and read off of this list and give your self points for things like ’number of pets’ or ’how many states have you visited’. After we were done, the whole class compared their groups total point count and talked about the differences between people. Mr. Love did some questioning to start and keep the class discussion going. One of the questions was "Do people trust or act differently areound gays and other homosexuals?" And everyone said no. Everyone said they didnt act differently around ’homos’ or ’fags’. Everyone said that homosexuals were treated the same as straight people. Those are the biggest lies :eusa_liar i’ve heard since W. Bush "won" the presidency. How can they say that those things with a clean conscience? True, some pwoplw have no problem with gays and it really isnt a big deal. But the people who think and deny that prejudice should be ashamed. For example, all I had to do was tell the people in that room that I was bi and it spread like wildfire. If it really weren’t a big deal, it wouldn’t have spread like a bad rumor. Secondly, if Homopbobia/Biphobia didnt exist, I would not have recieved five hate letters through myspace in the last month such as this one: i hate gay homo dick sucking fag it like u from http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=96850283. Out of those five messages, three of them contained death threats (stabbing, shooting, getting beat to a bloody pulp, some people have nooo imagination). People just dont realize how much this type of thing happens to people. Whether the discrimination is targeted toward a person of gender, color, nationallity, size, religion, intelligence, integrity, or sexual orientation, it is always present whether we like it or not. There is always talk about the end of bullying and hate but sadly that will Never happen. Ever. This is because so many humans lack the intitiative to make a positive difference in this world, regardless to whom it is projected at, because they are selfish. If it doesnt affect/effect them, they want no part. The Great Margaret Cho (number three on my top friends) once said during one of her amazing acts: "If you lack self esteem, you will hesitate to do anything in your life. You will hesitate to go for the job you really want to go for. You will hesitate to ask for a raise. You will hesitate to report a rape. You will hesitate to defend yourself when you are discriminated agianst because of your gender, race, sexuallity, or size. You will hesitate to vote. You will hesitate to call yourself an American. But most of all, you will hesitate to dream." Those words are so true! In the presence of sexism, racism, homophobia, religious bigotry, etc., we as the human race, will never get along for long enought to amount to anything worth while. Ms. Cho continues: "So I urge you all today, especially today, to love yourself without reservations. And to love each other without restraints. "Unless your into leather [sex]... "Then by all means use restraints!!"
p.s. this is from my blog, so thats why the question is in the title and the formatt is the way it is
I honestly can't say that I know. I notice so frequently, here in my conservative-dominated southern high school, that people sling around homophobic and hateful remarks with no second thoughts. I'm not out to anyone at the school yet, I'm a transfer student and I haven't really connected with anyone enough yet to make it worth telling, but I always wonder if they would use the same words if they knew I were gay. Would they stop saying them because they realized they were rude, or would they just get quite around me and go right on in the company of their friends? Would they even stop at all? Really, people just amaze me. No sense of responsibility or consideration left in the world.
Why do they lie? Because they're scared. Which is actually a good thing. It means society is slowly coming around. Let me back up and explain a bit, by giving you a bit of perspective. I grew up one state to the west of you - in Colorado. Our state is apparently a bit more liberal than yours, but not by any great amount. (Hey, we're home of Focus on the Family!) I went to high school in suburban Denver during the mid 80s, roughly twenty years ago. And none of my teachers - not even the kindest, coolest ones - would EVER have asked a question like "Do people trust or act differently around gays and other homosexuals?". Do you know why? Because they would have been fired before the week was up. And probably never gotten another job as a teacher again. Back in my high school days, even mentioning homosexuality in any form would be considered an attempt to warp our young minds, to "push the homosexual agenda". Even as recently as the mid-80s, homosexuality really was "the love that dare not speak its name". Things have changed in the past two decades. They've change a lot. Twenty years ago, no one would dare admit they were a homosexual in high school, for fear of getting into trouble. Now, it's the homophobes who don't dare speak up, for fear of getting into trouble. (And only now, of course, am I hearing how horribly unfair it is that "political correctness" only allows one side of the issue. They didn't seem to care when it was their side.) Does this mean homophobia has been conquered? No, not in the slightest. But the progress made has been enormous. I recently went back to my high school. It has a gay student union now. I can't even wrap my brain around that. : ) Lex
