If you know me well, you'd know I'm pretty passionate about gay rights. While I myself am straight, I have gay family members and tons of gay friends (generally pretty normal when you're doing a Performance degree in uni!!) so I've grown up knowing that there's nothing wrong with being gay, and that you should be comfortable with your sexuality.
However, sadly, there are a lot of people that don't think this way due to religious beliefs and basically just plain ignorance! Instead, they grow up with the belief that homosexuality is a choice, that they will go to hell for being gay, and that they do not deserve equal rights.
For those ignorant people that have not taken the time to get to know anyone gay, let me enlighten you...
1) Being gay is NOT a choice!! You would have to be living under a rock to not realise how much discrimination gay people experience. Why on earth would ANYONE willingly choose to be gay and experience all of this? I have gay friends that have struggled with "coming out" for years and years and years because they've wanted their feelings to go away and are scared as to what other people might think!
2) They are not freaks, and there is nothing wrong with them!!! I have a few straight friends who have been straight their entire lives, and then found themselves attracted to someone of the same sex, but noone else of the same sex, just that one person. That does not make them gay. We do not fall in love with boys or girls, we fall in love with people. Why is that such a crime? They cannot be expected to turn their feelings off, or just become straight. It's how they are, and even if they want to, they can't just change.
3) They are not all the same! TV shows and films tend to represent them all in the same way... as flamboyant, materialistic, loud and often obnoxious. I have gay friends who you would never guess were gay until they told you. Conversely, I have flamboyant gay friends who you can see are obviously gay, without them even speaking a word to you. I have gay friends that love shopping, I have gay friends that hate shopping. I have gay friends that love Xbox games and sports.
4) Most gay guys are not going to target straight males. This is for all ignorant straight guys that think "oh, these faggots are gonna try and anal me when I'm not looking"... They can generally tell a straight guy from a gay guy, and they're obviously not going to target you if you're straight. They're not all just out for sex.
And, even if you do know all this and still are homophobic or "hate all gay people", this DOES NOT give you the right to torment them, tease them and make their lives miserable!
I saw a play earlier this year called 'The Laramie Project' which was based on a true story about a gay teenager in Wyoming who was tortured and KILLED at the age of 15 for being gay!
These two videos have also made me emotional because I feel so terrible for gay teenagers and kids that have to deal with ignorant people bullying them and sometimes even making them think that suicide is the only way out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkNn3Ei-Lg&feature=share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTaCYIpBMM0
I have to go now, dinner's on the table, but seriously! Leave them alone! Watch what you say because words hurt! And if you have a problem with someone about something THAT THEY CANNOT CONTROL, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!!!!!
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