I've been hearing about a few things in the LGBT community that are really making me angry. You know, we don't do anything harmful to anyone, so why do people muster up so much hate for us? You could be transferring all that hate and passion into something else, rather than hating a community that wants nothing more than equal rights.
First and foremost, I heard a story about an A+ student heading in a bright, fortunate direction, but her school forced her to leave after she came out to them as lesbian. Here's a small article about it.
Why does it matter that she is lesbian? Does that have some negative influence on whether or not you believe she can be a brilliant student? We're not inhuman. We think just like every other human does, and I don't believe anyone would do such a thing. Our orientation has nothing to do with how we perform academically, professionally, or in society. We're still human.
The next thing that really made me angry had to do with the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. A brave, strong-willed woman decided to tweet exactly how she felt about the situation. Here's the tweet:
First of all: who are you to say whether or not God is pleased? Is he sending you messages in your hateful head? I would think that this is why Christians get a bad image, and these are some of the reasons why gays/bisexuals/lesbians are still considered a minority. My other thought on this is...how will this end the earth? Because we're allowed to be open about our orientation in the military, God is just going to smite us all? I just found this to be the most ridiculous bit of ignorance I've seen.
Also, in response to that, there are a few states that allow same-sex marriages, and in fact, many people have married their same-sex partner. So my question to the bible thumpers are: If these have happened, and God is so against it, why won't he smite us all? Oh, right, because instead, we're just going to burn in Hell. Totally forgot that!
I had to get that out of my system, because the ignorance of our country as a whole is starting to become more and more real as I see this things being said. I can't, for the life of me, comprehend why people harbor such hate for the LGBT community, when we just want equal rights. I just wish I knew how they could sleep at night, as their blood pumps hate throughout their entire body.
In light of National Coming Out Day (which was yesterday, but it's National Coming Out Week at my school, so all your arguments are invalid), I decided I would post about that major turning point in any Gay, Lesbian, or bisexual individual's life: Coming out.
Now from what I've seen and experienced, the reaction is either on or the other. The people you come out to can be accepting, or they won't. There's no "Well, I suppose I'm okay with it, only IF..." No. In my experience, that will turn into not accepting the individual. Because this can go either way, this is never an easy task for anyone. Hell, even to this day, I still get nervous when I tell new people that I'm gay. You just never know if that person will immediately turn you down, simply because of your sexual orientation.
It's really upsetting that there are even people that won't accept their gay child. Also, it's upsetting that some people just can't accept a gay person in general. I was told by my friend, who was telling his mother about a play that was going on at school, something she said. He was mentioning that one of the students in our school was playing a gay character, and the actor himself is gay. His mother then says "That's a shame." He asked for clarification, and then she said "It's a shame that you have gay people at your school." It's things like this that make coming out the most challenging thing in these people's lives. When they're surrounded by people like this, it can result in one of two things. They can either:
A.) Keep themselves "in the closet", never feeling as if they're allowed to truly be who they are.
B.) Become discouraged or hurt because once they're out, because their "choice" just isn't right.
People get bullied because of their sexuality, and if you keep up with the LGBTQ community, you know about the handful of teen suicides because of ignorant acts like this.
After bringing up our "choice", I thought of another point. It's somewhat off-topic, but I feel like it needs to be addressed. I'm sure that, when coming out, someone could be asked "Why are you choosing to be gay/bisexual/lesbian?" This really gets to me, because this is definitely something you don't choose. I'll admit, I would never choose being gay, because love lives don't come as easily for us. We don't have it the hardest, but it's definitely not all peaches and gravy. No one in their right mind would CHOOSE to be gay, and when someone says that we "choose" it, it really just makes my skin crawl. "Do you choose to be straight?"
I had to keep that short, or I'd be going forever.
If you're thinking about coming out, I have a few tips that might be good for you. This is mostly coming from my own experience, and from what I see happening with others.
1. I've noticed that, in this day in age, the teens and young adults are more accepting. If your friends seem to think that being gay/bisexual/lesbian is okay, then go for it. It's better to be out to a few than to no one at all.
2. Test the water with your parents. If they tend to have old fashioned views, maybe just mention things about the gay community. If they don't seem okay with it, maybe wait until you're not under their care, and you've got yourself settled and independent before you come out. You just never know what could happen to you if you're still in their care, and they find out that you're gay.
3. If you don't think you can find anyone to come out to, find a local group of some sort. I'm not very knowledgeable on what kinds of groups there are, but if you're in a college setting, there's bound to be a club you can join where you can be open and makes some friends while you're at it.
I don't have all the answers, but I certainly like to think I do when it comes to this subject. Like I said, it's never an easy thing to do. Once you do come out, though, it changes your life, whether it's for better or worse.
Song of the Week!
So this is, yet again, a song by The Bird and the Bee. I've been obsessed with this band for a few weeks now, and I'm pretty sure this is my favorite of their songs now. It's called "Again and Again" (as you can see), and for some reason, I kind of feel like I can relate to this song.
So I added another chapter to my fanfiction. Here you go! Just change the tab thingy in the top or bottom right if you've read all the other chapters.
The questions kind of failed, so maybe I'll try that again another time. When I'm more popular...haha!
So I was watching True Life: I want to be straight, and it spurred lots of terrible emotions in me. I can't even begin to tell you how upset I was while I was watching it.
To give you some background (for those who didn't see it), it followed the stories of two individuals who wanted to be straight because of social pressures, mostly by their family. The first person introduced was a lesbian woman (Melanie) who had a mother that can't stand the fact that she's living this lifestyle. They've gotten into many altercations over her sexuality, and this caused her to try to pursue a heterosexual lifestyle. She doesn't like dating guys because she feels a better connection with girls, but the only problem she has is her mother, and she pursues a heterosexual lifestyle just so her mother will stay in her life.
The second individual was a man who was raised under a heavy Christian household (Kevin). He realized he was attracted to guys, and started pursuing that lifestyle, but his parents told him that it was wrong because of what the bible says, so he tried as hard as he could to be straight. He read the section of the bible that says how homosexuality is wrong every day, just to remind himself that he will be turned away by his family if he is to continue being gay.
The parents of each of these individuals were terribly intolerant of them, and this is especially what got to me. Melanie's mother simply didn't like that she was lesbian, and physically harmed her, just for this reason. She was willing to stop talking to her daughter just because she was interested in women, and that, to me, is just a terrible way to be.
Kevin's dad told him he was PROUD that Kevin was becoming straight. His friends supported his decision, but in my opinion, friends are supposed to support you no matter how ridiculous the decision. What angered me about that, though, is that they prayed for him, saying to "protect him from the devil". What the hell? So all of us homosexuals are infected by the devil then, huh?
My point is, how come a parent just can't accept their gay child? They're not doing anything to the parent PERSONALLY, so why is it so upsetting to them? The intolerance of the people in these poor souls' lives made me angry, because I know they aren't the only people who deal with this. I'm very lucky to have a loving and accepting family, but I just wish everyone's family was that way.
And since I feel like sharing, I will be listening to this song for forever. So I figure I can share it with my readers. It's beyond amazing, and I just can't stop listening.
I guarantee that you'll be walking around your house singing "Good bye, baby good bye~" from now on. It's just that amazing!
I've achieved an amazing feat (so far) this summer! I've lost some weight! I've lost seven pounds so far, and will continue to lose this unnecessary fat. Take that, excess fat! Besides, I need to look good for my sophomore year of college. Duhh.
New York passed their Marriage Equality bill! Yay! I was so happy to hear about that, and I'm so glad that the gay community is starting to see some light in our situation. I sure hope New York is not our last victory!
I wrote the third and fourth chapter of my fan-fiction. And here they are! If you haven't read the first two, and would like to, just click the tab at the bottom (or top) right of the page, and go to the first chapter.
So I have something kind of personal to talk about today. In my experience as a gay male, I've noticed it's a bit hard. I feel like I don't get respect from other males (other than a given few), and that it'll be harder for me to find someone to date. I'm not saying I have it the hardest, and I'm not saying gays have it harder than anyone else to find a partner, I'm just stating how I feel. I just always find myself liking straight males. I feel like I can't ever just go and flirt with a guy because I'm interested in him, because I have to take the extra work to figure out if he's even gay, first.
What I'm trying to get at is, if I were born a girl instead of a gay male, would I have it easier? I could actually flirt with a guy without him saying "Ew you're gay, back off." Then again, I might have to deal with "You're ugly", but at least my life would be a bit more straightforward. I wouldn't be treated different by people of the same gender, and I wouldn't struggle (as much) with finding someone.
After thinking about it, though, I think I'm content with being a gay male. If I was born a straight girl, or a straight male for that matter, how would I act? Would I even support this much needed cause that I feel so strongly for? Would I hate the gay community? I feel better knowing that I AM one of the people I'm fighting so hard for, and I don't think I'd have it any other way.
Before you ask, no, I would not get a sex change, because I just don't like the idea of getting one. I'm fully supportive of anyone who gets them, though, because if that makes them happy, I think they should go for it. To me, it just wouldn't feel the same.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my super deep thoughts. So deep, it's mind-blowing, right? Yeah, I know.
By the way, I wanted to share this with you, because I'm probably going to be jamming to it for the next thousand months. Roly poly, roly roly poly! (There is a video for it, but it's like, twelve minutes long, and there are no subs for the speaking parts, so I figured I wouldn't bore you with that.)
Anywho, thanks for reading! Don't jam too hard to this song! I know it's impossible, though.
