Spreading the Love
As I'm sure many of you (especially those in the States) have heard, there have been some extremely upsetting events in the news lately concerning anti-gay bullying and several subsequent suicides. Now, I'm not one to do much sociopolitical musing, because I feel like that can get overly personal, but I am sort of a news junkie and I certainly have opinions on the material I read. The suicide of Tyler Clementi has brought to the forefront a string of other recent cases of anti-gay bullying and suicides in schools. Bearing that in mind, today, I'm participating in National Coming Out Day as a straight ally of the LGBT community.
National Coming Out Day Logo
I strongly feel that there is no excuse, religious or otherwise, for tolerating the abuse of students by their peers for their chosen lifestyle. And what's even more frustrating is the attempt to politicize a situation that is fundamentally a human rights issue; of life and liberty. National Coming Out Day hasn't just been preceded this year by the bullying events, but also by the incredibly insensitive comments made by gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. It is one thing to be opposed to the legal and religious aspects of gay marriage, but it is completely another to be intolerant of the lifestyle and cruel to the people. This year's NCOD also falls the day after Belgrade's gay pride parade in which police ended up intervening to stop attacks by anti-gay protestors of the march. I'm glad to hear that Serbian, and other international, officials have condemned the violent actions, but it's sad to hear that much of the problem is grassroots. I'm no hippie (not that there's anything wrong with being a hippie), but it's sad to see such hatred amongst people. I always think: Would you do that to your neighbor, your kids, or your best friend? Because if not, no stranger deserves it either. They're somebody's neighbors, kids, and best friends too.
Sorry this post is long and kind of heavy, but it is important to me to show my support for some of my good friends as well as those that I don't know. Thanks for reading!
National Coming Out Day Logo
I strongly feel that there is no excuse, religious or otherwise, for tolerating the abuse of students by their peers for their chosen lifestyle. And what's even more frustrating is the attempt to politicize a situation that is fundamentally a human rights issue; of life and liberty. National Coming Out Day hasn't just been preceded this year by the bullying events, but also by the incredibly insensitive comments made by gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. It is one thing to be opposed to the legal and religious aspects of gay marriage, but it is completely another to be intolerant of the lifestyle and cruel to the people. This year's NCOD also falls the day after Belgrade's gay pride parade in which police ended up intervening to stop attacks by anti-gay protestors of the march. I'm glad to hear that Serbian, and other international, officials have condemned the violent actions, but it's sad to hear that much of the problem is grassroots. I'm no hippie (not that there's anything wrong with being a hippie), but it's sad to see such hatred amongst people. I always think: Would you do that to your neighbor, your kids, or your best friend? Because if not, no stranger deserves it either. They're somebody's neighbors, kids, and best friends too.
Sorry this post is long and kind of heavy, but it is important to me to show my support for some of my good friends as well as those that I don't know. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for being such a great ally :-)
ReplyDeleteYour support is awesome. I'm on the same page as you and I agree that 1) there's no reason to mentally and physically torture another human being and 2) all people should have the right to live and love the way they choose. We were all made different for a reason!
ReplyDelete