When you read this, keep in mind that I am in 100% agreement with everything you said.
This was a sweet gesture on everyone's part who cared enough to wear purple. But, for me, at least, I've seen more ugliness come from it than support. I've seen so many posts and groups on facebook with things like "why do they get a day because they killed themselves? because they're gay? do people wear colors when straight people die?" or "being gay is a sin. now we're supposed to feel bad because people sinned again because of their sin?" There's even that teacher who went on FB who went off about it and said all his gay students should die (and has since resigned). It's really just kind of dampened my view on America right now.
It's by no means strictly an American issue but it is definitely at the center, I'd say.
Now, I'm gay and my opinion is always slanted so I don't really get the whole debate. I don't get the people who feel the need to wear sparkles and have pride parades, just like I don't understand those who feel the need to beat and kill them for having a pride parade like it affects straight people's lives somehow.
You're absolutely right - it really shouldn't affect anyone else. There shouldn't have to be pride parades, and rainbow flags, and organizations, but the reality is that we live in a very judgmental, biased, and hateful society.
People are labeled different, and are made to feel different than what is considered the norm, though who really has the authority to decide what the norm is? That's where the "gay is a sin" types come into play with their definition of authority.
It's no different than racial biases (which are every damn place imaginable even now) and just as many organizations and marches and celebrations of race are out there. It's all the same, really.
In my opinion, people are made up of hundreds of qualities. 1% of me is short, 1% of me is a lil chunky, 1% of me loves Buffy, 1% of me is blonde, etc etc etc. I don't see why either side needs to make a big deal out of something that, in my opinion, makes up so little of who a person is as a whole. It's definitely a double standard. It's ok to hate on the LGBT community because people don't accept them, causing this whole gay vs straight debate...but what would people do if the blondes started fighting the brunettes? Why fight and hate each other over something so miniscule. No one should be defined by just ONE characteristic, and should not be denied freedom and treated as less than human because they're gay, or black, or muslim, or whatever.
No, no one should be defined by any of these, but again that's the world we all live in, for worse or for worse. There are stereotypes, labels, you name it out there that are designed to single people out as being different, as being less-than, as being below or inferior to.
In order to fight the good fight to live and be accepted as anyone else, marrying whoever a person wants to marry without some schmuck across the street raising hell over it when it has nothing at all to do with them, it's necessary to stand up and essentially label one's own self as a matter of being proud to be who they are, and not be willing to be condemned for it. Sometimes a man has to say "I'm a gay man" or "I'm a black man" to get the point across. It's like saying "this is who I am and I'm not going anywhere".
No one should have to do this, but that's just how the world is and has been forever, really.
When I look at "gay" people, and I hate to use the label but I do so to make a point - I don't see "them" as being different, I see "them" as being strong. Brave. Confident and self-aware. I think "they" are the coolest people around. In this world we live in, you have to be damn strong and stand up and fight just to not have to stand up and fight at all...to fight to be considered a "they", not be hated, not be made to feel different, not to be considered any kind of label at all. Fighting to be what everyone else gets to be, which is just plain living life, which is so damned short and in this world often so damned cheap.
It sounds so simple, doesn't it?
To make it clear - I don't see this as an "us versus them" issue either. Anyone and everyone, regardless of orientation, skin color, ethnicity, should fight for equality for everyone.
I think stricter laws should be put in place against those who bully and hate. That's the only real way to stop it, I think. I won't lie, I was a bully in school because I knew I could get away with it. 8th grade to 11th grade I was pretty bad, until I matured and grew up senior year. Had I known I could be fined or face jail time, trust me I would not have done it. Hopefully something new will be done against bullying so these teens did not lose their lives from suicide for nothing. If they dreamed of a world where there would be tolerance, where they wouldn't be frightened to seek an education, it would be nice for that to happen in our lifetime. This goes for EVERYONE who has been bullied.
That's the unfortunate side of progress. There is always a price to be paid and often times, people end up losing their lives or even taking their own, and progress is made in an effort to make their losses mean something, to make something good come from something that never should have happened in the first place.
I'll end by saying this, which is what I truly believe. All I've said here was just seeing both sides of the situation. That does not change the fact that:
YOU are NOT different from me. Not one iota. I am not better or worse than you, and vice versa. We are both the same: Human. Just like everyone else in this thread, in this forum, on this whole damn planet.
Cheers.
I loved what you had to say.
🙂
