I wonder if he's ever heard the phrase "Preaching to the Choir"? Ah well, let him waste his money.
But as to the articles - on the front page, there's this tripe about a "Day of Silence" for the GLBT community at the University of Washington.
Here's a hint, folks. If there's anything that will get you ostracized from the U of Washington, it's not sexual orientation. Don't believe me? Stand in the middle of campus with a sign that says "I support President Bush". Bring a helmet, you'll need it. Reading through the article just made me want to scream.
Gym class was just not an option ?— what if they made fun of the way he walked?
That has nothing to do with being gay, does it? Anybody can have an odd gait to their walk.
And running for student government was too risky ?— what if they picked apart the way he talked?
Again, what does this have to do with sexual orientation? Do you think kids who stutter or have a cleft palate have an easy time in high school?
He'd seen it all happen before, to boys who weren't even gay.
Bingo, the most telling sentence of the entire article. TO BOYS WHO WEREN'T EVEN GAY.
Fewer than one-third of GLBT students surveyed in 2001 said they saw the issues in their lives reflected in textbooks, according to the task force. About the same percentage said they could access gay-resource Web sites at school or find GLBT resources in the school library.
"The issues in their lives?" I didn't know that Math was sexually oriented. I didn't know that history was sexually oriented. Maybe if you would actually concentrate in getting an education you wouldn't worry if the textbooks had entire chapters devoted to different sexual orientations! As for accessing gay resource websites? If you can find the NAMBLA webpage from a college computer (and I know you can, it's protected under the 1st Amendment!) then you can find anything else you want. Maybe they should look a little harder instead of complaining about it!
When Goshu was in high school, he heard a message in that silence that straight people might not even notice: You do not belong here.
Funny, that was the same message that I got, but I wasn't gay. I just didn't fit in with "The popular crowd". Most people don't. Perhaps if Goshu had looked around at the various people who are shunned in high school, he wouldn't have felt so alone.
He already had heard that message at home. When he was in sixth grade, Goshu said, his father pulled him aside to deliver a warning: If you become a homosexual, I will kill you.
That's a fucked up father, no doubt. No kid should have to go through that. But does that make it my fault? Or anyone else's fault but his father's?
The words followed Goshu to high school ?— and nothing he saw there made him feel any better about being gay. He saw boys and girls holding hands. He saw photographs on teachers' desks of traditional families ?— a father, a mother, children at their feet.
Yes, when the majority of people are heterosexual, you will see lots of hetero couples holding hands! Duh! If you take offense to that, it's YOUR problem, not ours! If you take offense to traditional families, it's YOUR problem, not ours! If you expect the entire world to avoid offending you due to YOUR life, then it's YOUR problem, not ours!
What he did not see was his life.
Two words: LOOK HARDER.
Look, if you are gay, fine. You're gay. Big whoop-de-do. If you're gay and you want to be treated just like everybody else, good! Equality should be the norm, not the exception! But if you're gay and you want everybody to conform to your standards to avoid "offending" you? That's where I have a problem.
Are gays harassed in school? Without a doubt. So are kids with thick glasses. So are short kids. Anybody who is different takes a load of shit from other people in school, and it sucks. But to be upset because you see hetero couples holding hands? That's a load of horses**t. To feel put out when you see pictures of a teacher's family? That's your problem, kiddo. Whether you like it or not, your sexuality is in the minority of the population in this country. You can either accept that fact and deal with it accordingly, or you can live our your life in misery. But you do NOT have the right to make the entire country go out of their way to avoid your delicate sensibilities.
Is that harsh? Probably. But here's the truth of the entire matter: Until you stop demanding special treatment, you will not get treated equally by anyone else. If you make a big deal about how different you are, then that's how people will perceive you -
Different.
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