Say NO to Homophobia

*hugs Jayne*

Well done girl - I'm proud of you that you spoke to both your folks and told them everything. It may take some time for them to get used to the idea, but their your parents and they love you, so they accept the truth (even if it takes a while)

Has anyone listened to the new Pink album, "I'm Not Dead"? Its awesome. One of the songs, "Dear Mr President" is brilliant, and very political (which is my fav type of song) - it runs the gammit of the Iraq War, Poverty & homelessness, but it also covers the Republican government's homophobic policies. Two of the best lines:

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay

Fantastic song - if you haven't heard it, it's available on iTunes, etc

 

Yay, Jaynie-poo! *hugs*

Speaking of the bible, I've read some very disturbing things, actually, in the one I got from my baptism this year about homosexuality. I'm Christian, and apparently this is what it has to say:

"God detests homosexual behavior."

"God judges those who practice homosexual behavior."

"Homosexuality has no place among Christians.

Sheesh!

 

Ugh. I hate religion. I believe in God and everything.. but.. *dies*

I refuse to believe that God judges me for the way he created me, y'know?

To quote a song from choir, :lol:
"I thought we all were the children of God"

 

^ Yup, that's what I thought, but then my mom says, "Well..you know, I believe God wanted men and women to love each other, so that they would have children one day" so that kind of brought my confidence level down just a bit. I asked her what that was supposed to mean...I was a but outraged, actually, to tell the truth. I mean, yes, that's why there are two genders, basically, so that the human race can keep growing, but...can you help it if you like someone of the same gender?

 

I guess I'm screwed either way then, since i don't even want children!

 

^ We're all screwed, Baba :lol:

 

Coincidence you're talking about religion.. I was doing some research for my thesis, partly about Propaganda, and so I read this:

From: Jowett and O'Donnell. Propaganda & Persuasion. (London: Sage Publications Inc., 1999); 58-9.

Heh.. uhm.. yeah.. made me actually laugh off my arse.. sure.. try and "change" me into a straight person.. how naive!

 

It just makes me so angry..... I mean who's business is it what gender we like? Why should people get to judges some one on their sexuality? I don't get it!

The whole argument of two sexes made for reproductiont thing was actually a discussion I got into with some girls a couple of weeks ago, they were blatantly homophobic and thought it was "sick", their argument was "If God made man and woman then he obviously wnated us to reproduce" I replied that a)"God" made us with appendix and they are considered a "genetic mistake" maybe the idea of reproduction was too! And b)That if "God" made us each individually surely then he'd embrace what he made

To this they replied, "You're such a dyke" and walked away

Moral of the story? No matter what you say or do they'll never listen, those girls interpreted things depending on the outcome they wanted!

 

I actually think that the change in SO comes naturally. Like if something traumatic happened to someone, which then effects the way the person thinks. Perhaps it causes the person to change and become gay.

An ol' buddy of mine was telling me that becoming gay/les/bi is not like making a decision. It's either you are one, or you're not. He said that when he was young, he got bullied by his sisters and they were always mean towards him. Then, causing him to be afraid of females and he becomes more inclined towards liking men. Something like that could have triggered the change of his SO. Not surprisingly though. Cos that's usually the case around here.

 

You see, we have problem coming from both fronts - religious and secular.

Some people use their religion to label being gay or bi as wrong. But probably just as common, are the societal constraints put on sexuality, gender, masculinity and femininity. Gay men are labeled as "effeminate", gay women are "masculine" or "butch". Even "femmes" are being labeled according to a pre-conceived notion of what femininity should mean. If you feel the need to label everything, put people into boxes according to your own sets of values or definitions, then you end up with problems. And you end up with Prejudice.

Another problem is we have a society that thinks its okay to use the term "gay" as either an insult or a joke. If we want to insult a guy, we can turn round and tell him "you're so gay." If a woman expresses a feminist ideal we don't like, we can say "you're such a dyke". And then you have people becoming defensive when rumors go around about their favorite rock star/actress/whatever. People get angry "he/she isn't gay! How dare you say that!"

Whether a rumor is true or not, how is it derogatory to suggest a man or a woman might be gay? Why is that considered insulting? Because society has made it that way? Because some religions tell us it's a sin? The hell with that.

 

I know exactly what you mean ^^
My sister is away at uni and whenever she comes home i notice that she has picked up another new phrase. At the moment it's calling things that annoy her "gay". So if she is upset with someone she says "oh, he's being so gay", which i think is meant as an insult. She's not homophobic as far as i know, it's just something she has picked up from other people. It does annoy me that she uses it as an insult, but i know that she doesn't mean anything by it. i mean she also says "the computer is being gay" if it's not working. What annoys me is the fact that it is becoming an acceptable thing to say, and the people saying it don't think of the consequences or effect it might have on other people.

I have been reading this thread for a while and i would like to say that i am also against homophobia. It's encouraging to see that there are so many people against it. Also congratulations to anyone who has the courage to come out to thier friends and family. I can only imagine how scary it must be.

 

It sounds like everyone could use a hug or two so ((((squeeze)))) to all of you wonderful people.

Sorry i haven't been around- health issues-- anyway, i'm not sure if i've mentioned this already, but i spoke to a preist and he told me that god loves me for who and what i am. And that if anything he would like me to except myself for who I am and not lie about it or try to cover it up. Since that talk, i've felt a lot more comfy with who i am-- even though i'm going to have to get lesbian tattooed to my forhead before my father gets the idea.

I wish that there were more people like all of you in the world-- i wonder if people are more excepting than they let on for fear that others might think they are gay/bi/lesbian-- just a thought. Anyway, thanks for supporting everyone-- i know it means a lot to me and i'm sure it does others as well!

 

Onlynic, take care of yourself yeah.

Ahh, those are great words from a priest. I'm glad it made you feel much better to be yourself.

 

UGH I KNOW. E-v-e-r-y-o-n-e at my school runs around calling things gay. It's like, inanimate objects do NOT have sexual orientations, thanguberymuch.

 

^I'm sorry but that's just way of saying for some people and shouldn't be taken that way. Just like in grades 7-9 you call everyone "gay" when they are stupid/idiotic or you just hate them. There is no deeper meaning.

It's just a fashion word.