LGBT
At this point you have to have been living under a rock the past twenty years to have a problem with the LGBT community. Who cares if someone is gay, bisexual or a transgender? It doesn't make them a bad person or dangerous, it just makes them different. "Different" people are the most interesting to be friends with and have around. They think about relationships and people in a way straight people don't understand, and that's a refreshing thought. What is it about people who are so against the gay community? Why are they so angry at them? Maybe they're afraid of the gay thoughts they have had in the past and it scares them. It's each individual's prerogative to think about this issue how they please of course. It all begins with what each person's basic belief on the subject is, are gay people born gay or is it something learned or even chosen?
I was having a talk once with someone who believed gay people choose to be gay. He said, "if my daughter ever told me she was gay I would kick her out of the house." I did a double take as you do not meet many people in New York who think this way. My curiosity peaked and I said, "why?" He said, "because I don't want some lesbian living under my roof." He went on to say "gays are not accepted by the bible, God will punish them." At this point, the conversation became ridiculous so I slowly excused myself. The insight into his psychology was fascinating though: "God is going to punish them?" What kind of a God did he believe in? Sounded more like a devil than a loving God.
There is so much acceptance for the LGBT community now on the news, in television shows, music, books, movies, videos etc. that people against them are turning into the ones being ridiculed. It's "very 1950's" to have a problem with gay people. It is the year 2014 and homophobics are living in their world of hatred and confusion. It must be hard for them to go to dinner parties or have conversations and have to hide their bigotry. Putin for example, is outspoken is his belief, "allowing" the gays to come to his country during the winter olympics but asking them to "leave the children alone." Hey Putin, gays were kids once too. If the gay people go to Russia, don't worry the kids will be alright. A gay person isn't going to go out of his way to talk about being gay to a kid, just because he/she is gay. I can't imagine the wild thoughts running through Putin's mind: "they're trying to build an army," "they want to take over the world," "they want to destroy me!"
Let's talk about teenagers who are gay and want to come out. My best friend in high school was gay. When I learned about it, I wasn't shocked nor did I feel any different towards her in anyway. It was just a fact, she was who she was and I was who I was. She never hit on me nor was I ever worried she would, we were just best of friends. Just as she was a sister, a daughter, a cousin and also my best friend, her sexuality was never part of the equation of our friendship. Parents who are "against" the gays and have children who are gay, will have to process it by looking inward instead of out. Their child is their child whether they are a gay child, straight child, autistic child, genius child, troubled child, artistic child etc. It is their child in the end and once they come to terms with their own beliefs, only then can they accept and be proud of their child for who they are.
In some households, teenagers may be better off waiting until they are adult to come out to their parents (read: arguments, drama, stress). When they do, they will be coming out at a good time, as in today's day and age, it is more accepted when someone "comes out." People are being celebrated for their strength and braveness of being proud of who they are, rightly so. We really have no right to comment on who people choose to share their lives or their bedrooms with and they really don't have to "come out" and share their sexual preference. "Straights" never have a "coming out" moment, "hey dad, I'm straight." It is no doubt radical for a male and a male or a female and a female to choose to be together, get married and even start a family, it's not "wrong" though. Live and let live.
What do you think?
I was having a talk once with someone who believed gay people choose to be gay. He said, "if my daughter ever told me she was gay I would kick her out of the house." I did a double take as you do not meet many people in New York who think this way. My curiosity peaked and I said, "why?" He said, "because I don't want some lesbian living under my roof." He went on to say "gays are not accepted by the bible, God will punish them." At this point, the conversation became ridiculous so I slowly excused myself. The insight into his psychology was fascinating though: "God is going to punish them?" What kind of a God did he believe in? Sounded more like a devil than a loving God.
There is so much acceptance for the LGBT community now on the news, in television shows, music, books, movies, videos etc. that people against them are turning into the ones being ridiculed. It's "very 1950's" to have a problem with gay people. It is the year 2014 and homophobics are living in their world of hatred and confusion. It must be hard for them to go to dinner parties or have conversations and have to hide their bigotry. Putin for example, is outspoken is his belief, "allowing" the gays to come to his country during the winter olympics but asking them to "leave the children alone." Hey Putin, gays were kids once too. If the gay people go to Russia, don't worry the kids will be alright. A gay person isn't going to go out of his way to talk about being gay to a kid, just because he/she is gay. I can't imagine the wild thoughts running through Putin's mind: "they're trying to build an army," "they want to take over the world," "they want to destroy me!"
Let's talk about teenagers who are gay and want to come out. My best friend in high school was gay. When I learned about it, I wasn't shocked nor did I feel any different towards her in anyway. It was just a fact, she was who she was and I was who I was. She never hit on me nor was I ever worried she would, we were just best of friends. Just as she was a sister, a daughter, a cousin and also my best friend, her sexuality was never part of the equation of our friendship. Parents who are "against" the gays and have children who are gay, will have to process it by looking inward instead of out. Their child is their child whether they are a gay child, straight child, autistic child, genius child, troubled child, artistic child etc. It is their child in the end and once they come to terms with their own beliefs, only then can they accept and be proud of their child for who they are.
In some households, teenagers may be better off waiting until they are adult to come out to their parents (read: arguments, drama, stress). When they do, they will be coming out at a good time, as in today's day and age, it is more accepted when someone "comes out." People are being celebrated for their strength and braveness of being proud of who they are, rightly so. We really have no right to comment on who people choose to share their lives or their bedrooms with and they really don't have to "come out" and share their sexual preference. "Straights" never have a "coming out" moment, "hey dad, I'm straight." It is no doubt radical for a male and a male or a female and a female to choose to be together, get married and even start a family, it's not "wrong" though. Live and let live.
What do you think?
