Something that really baffles and disgusts me in equal measure is homophobia.
I just don’t get it.
Actually I don’t get a lot of things – racisim, bigotry, sexism, Celebrity Splash – but I especially don’t understand homophobia. Since the rampant violence exhibited towards the gay community up until the eighties, I naively thought that Australian society had grown up a little and that homophobia had packed up its ugliness and gone back into its cave. How wrong I was.
I’ve never understood why people feel so passionately opposed to something that frankly has nothing to do with them. Why does it BOTHER people so much when people are different to them? I am as intolerant as the next person (well, some of the next people) when someone does something that affects others in a negative way. But I cannot understand why people are so concerned when others have different preferences to them and those preferences have no impact on others whatsoever.
I had this conversation with a friend of mine last night and she said, “being gay is against what is written in the bible”. And I said, “if that’s really the case, then the bible got it wrong.”
Another friend told me once, “gay people try to convert straight people, that’s why I don’t like them. They’re dangerous to children.” I had nothing to say in response to that and I haven’t seen that friend in a very long time.
The irony is that people who are gay are just trying really hard to have their sexuality not matter at all. Someone’s sexuality is just one part of them. The fact that a person is sexually and intimately attracted to their own gender doesn’t change their character nor their potential. When did a part become more important than the whole? We are all just human, we are all just trying to get along in life in a way that makes us feel whole. A gay person is just as likely to be a good person or a bad person as someone who is not gay.
Imagine how shallow the world would be for hating a person just because of who they felt attracted to. Oh,wait a minute…
It’s ridiculous. To me it’s just so embarrassing that people are actually like that and don’t realise that the hate that fills their heart is eating them alive. Yes, just imagine how shallow the world would be for hating a person just because of who they felt attracted to.
“That man is disgusting because he’s into blondes.”
“Don’t let your daughter near her – she has sex with plumbers.”
“That man is vile – he only likes it when a woman keeps her bra on.”
“I’m disgusted – that woman will only have sex with men who are taller than she is.”
And so it goes.
If I tell you that I want to bellow at the world, “why can’t we all just get along”, will you call me naive? Will you say that people just don’t work like that? Will you tell me the bible says we’re supposed to hate each other?
[Image by ChristianWallDecals via Etsy]