i think gay people should be shot.
To many, that was just another bigoted and hateful thing to say... and some people will go on, blissfully unaware of the gravitas of such comments.
You see, sometimes, when people say horribly inane, bigoted, and hateful things... people listen. People hear things like that, and sometimes, whether things are said in jest or not, they're taken seriously. In fact, it doesn't even matter if the things said weren't threatening or murder-related... all it takes is a personal opinion or point of view that expresses highly polarizing sentiment for people to react.
I want some of you to close your eyes and imagine a line of cars, curling around a building and down a road. Now, I want you to imagine hundreds, maybe thousands, of similar images, at one time, in the same way that one might stare into a swarm of ants and understand that there are more moving creatures than can be counted at that one instance.
Now imagine that every one of those people are lining up, because they agree with a particular expressed sentiment, and said sentiment happens to be against you.
That's how I felt, when I turned on the TV and saw tons of cars lined up to defend someone's hurtful opinions. But most of all, my heart broke because I had family members and friends in those lines. Someone said something hurtful, and rather than stand up for me, because I ached, people that know me instead chose to defend people they don't.
If this was all just about freedoms of speech, it wouldn't have been such a huge deal. But many people just don't understand. They don't understand how opinions can affect so many people so, so deeply. Opinions create the air that all of society breathes... regardless of what side.
For example: an amazing friend of mine has a strong allergic reaction twice a year, in tune with the changing seasons. Since middle school, he's had to deal with these rashes that would painfully bubble, bleed, blister, and crack, and any doctors and dermatologists that his family would take him to see would tell him that it was all due to anxiety and stress. Unfortunately, he could only attribute any and all stresses in his existence - those resulting from being picked on, constantly hiding tears, being hatefully bullied - to being gay. And so, this friend of mine spent decades attributing this allergic reaction to his sexual orientation, and feeling like he could never talk to anyone about it.
But you see, there are millions of variations on this story, because there are millions of people that have felt the effect of the disgusting stigma. I have friends that were forced to leave home, before they were of age. I have friends that have attempted suicide.
One story comes from home...
Brandon and I were both raised Catholic, and we were both very devout kids. When we realized we were different, he went to speak to his priest and I to my youth leader. We both received the same pamphlets that taught us that we, as homosexuals, were accepted by the church as naturally occurring. However, we were never to act on our impulses - we had been called to lead a "special life."
So, a flesh-rending dichotomy was then born within my soul: I was both an incredibly devout child of god, from whom I craved infinite understanding and love and a monstrous pariah, undeserving of such attention. I developed an impossibly ferocious and abysmally deep self-loathing, and it took years before I could begin to see myself as a person... and even longer before I could love myself.
However, my best friend and partner in life has recently told me that, until recently, he'd felt that as though a part of who we are together, a dynamic shared by us, was innately sin.
And my heart broke.
My heart broke for him, for ever having to suffer that sort of ridiculous nonsense. My heart broke for us...I mean imagine trying to cultivate and nurture a relationship, when a Half felt (perhaps unconsciously, if not actively) that there was something innately wrong with the Whole.
And my heart hurt for every little boy or girl who's ever had to grow up internalizing such a terrible stigma. For boys and girls who've ever had to hide who they were, from peers, from classmates, from teachers, from family, from society.
For the teenage girls that were recently shot in the face, or for the one beaten by a group of adult men until more of her blood poured onto the floor than an onlooker had ever seen. And for all the stories that haven't made it to the news.
YOU. ARE NOT. SIN. Whether your family, your friends, your community, your government, or even other members of the GLBT community do not support or empathize with you, you are perfect as you are. You are beautiful.
I want people to understand that when people speak their minds, be they Chuck Norris, rap artists, ignorant misspellings on Facebook, or popular restaurants, others listen and react. People are affected across time, for decades, and the effects are incredibly damaging. They may not always be direct causes, but they do not help. It's time for old stigmas to disappear and opinions to change and it's time for my brothers and sisters to stop living in fear of rejection, severed ties, and blood.
Stand up for what is right, next time.
You see, sometimes, when people say horribly inane, bigoted, and hateful things... people listen. People hear things like that, and sometimes, whether things are said in jest or not, they're taken seriously. In fact, it doesn't even matter if the things said weren't threatening or murder-related... all it takes is a personal opinion or point of view that expresses highly polarizing sentiment for people to react.
I want some of you to close your eyes and imagine a line of cars, curling around a building and down a road. Now, I want you to imagine hundreds, maybe thousands, of similar images, at one time, in the same way that one might stare into a swarm of ants and understand that there are more moving creatures than can be counted at that one instance.
Now imagine that every one of those people are lining up, because they agree with a particular expressed sentiment, and said sentiment happens to be against you.
That's how I felt, when I turned on the TV and saw tons of cars lined up to defend someone's hurtful opinions. But most of all, my heart broke because I had family members and friends in those lines. Someone said something hurtful, and rather than stand up for me, because I ached, people that know me instead chose to defend people they don't.
If this was all just about freedoms of speech, it wouldn't have been such a huge deal. But many people just don't understand. They don't understand how opinions can affect so many people so, so deeply. Opinions create the air that all of society breathes... regardless of what side.
For example: an amazing friend of mine has a strong allergic reaction twice a year, in tune with the changing seasons. Since middle school, he's had to deal with these rashes that would painfully bubble, bleed, blister, and crack, and any doctors and dermatologists that his family would take him to see would tell him that it was all due to anxiety and stress. Unfortunately, he could only attribute any and all stresses in his existence - those resulting from being picked on, constantly hiding tears, being hatefully bullied - to being gay. And so, this friend of mine spent decades attributing this allergic reaction to his sexual orientation, and feeling like he could never talk to anyone about it.
But you see, there are millions of variations on this story, because there are millions of people that have felt the effect of the disgusting stigma. I have friends that were forced to leave home, before they were of age. I have friends that have attempted suicide.
One story comes from home...
Brandon and I were both raised Catholic, and we were both very devout kids. When we realized we were different, he went to speak to his priest and I to my youth leader. We both received the same pamphlets that taught us that we, as homosexuals, were accepted by the church as naturally occurring. However, we were never to act on our impulses - we had been called to lead a "special life."
So, a flesh-rending dichotomy was then born within my soul: I was both an incredibly devout child of god, from whom I craved infinite understanding and love and a monstrous pariah, undeserving of such attention. I developed an impossibly ferocious and abysmally deep self-loathing, and it took years before I could begin to see myself as a person... and even longer before I could love myself.
However, my best friend and partner in life has recently told me that, until recently, he'd felt that as though a part of who we are together, a dynamic shared by us, was innately sin.
And my heart broke.
My heart broke for him, for ever having to suffer that sort of ridiculous nonsense. My heart broke for us...I mean imagine trying to cultivate and nurture a relationship, when a Half felt (perhaps unconsciously, if not actively) that there was something innately wrong with the Whole.
And my heart hurt for every little boy or girl who's ever had to grow up internalizing such a terrible stigma. For boys and girls who've ever had to hide who they were, from peers, from classmates, from teachers, from family, from society.
For the teenage girls that were recently shot in the face, or for the one beaten by a group of adult men until more of her blood poured onto the floor than an onlooker had ever seen. And for all the stories that haven't made it to the news.
YOU. ARE NOT. SIN. Whether your family, your friends, your community, your government, or even other members of the GLBT community do not support or empathize with you, you are perfect as you are. You are beautiful.
I want people to understand that when people speak their minds, be they Chuck Norris, rap artists, ignorant misspellings on Facebook, or popular restaurants, others listen and react. People are affected across time, for decades, and the effects are incredibly damaging. They may not always be direct causes, but they do not help. It's time for old stigmas to disappear and opinions to change and it's time for my brothers and sisters to stop living in fear of rejection, severed ties, and blood.
Stand up for what is right, next time.
