Need LGBT backup and support, nowhere else to turn to :(

[Emiliano]

My answer is No.

For reasons:

I combated and combated and argued the logic, the science the infallible word of God having a few errors, blah blah blah. Off line, to the face of the oppressors one can win points. Online apparently ignorance is a dish best served up over and over and over again.

I did my "gay thing" already, I'm old and I am tired of doing the "protect the LGBT community from bashers". I was n the last generation where it was typical for a group of thugs to actually do physical harm to the lone LGBT individual, like a pack of wolves separating the weakest from our ranks to bring down. Or to hang on a fence.

Today, thanks to me and many in my generation and the generation before that, gay marriage is sweeping the Free World, the Militaries are no longer doing that whole "dishonorable discharge for one being "that way"" thing. Oh and my generation combated the Scourge (AIDS) passing out awareness one condom or handful of condoms at a time.

To my horror I find that your generation is all OK with getting HIV because there are pills for that. Not a cure, but treatments which keeps people from dying. In the West. Africa is still seeing the great wasting and death. So your generation stopped wearing the condoms and laugh at us old fags who worry about catching the Scourge...

I also planted over 450,000 trees in my life time, I calculated it, it gives everyone about 50 seconds of oxygen, take a deep breath and use it well.

Protested and successfully stopped nuclear power plants from taking over the world... well somewhat. Protested the pollution, the hunting of whales, the stuff that was of importance to my generation. When is the last time a river caught fire in the USA due to pollution. Yeah your welcome.

Hell all of this was physical grunt work and put lives in the target sights of "The Enemy".

There is something about winning an argument on the internet, let me dig it up here:

Why you can't win an argument on the internet.

Oh that's right, you can't win an argument on the internet.

IF you are in the USA over half of the population is for LGBT rights, with that number growing year to year. Back when I started it was less than a quarter. I tyhink the UK, Canada, and other western nations are ahead of that curve by a long shot. IF you are in the western world this war is over. We Won.

Russia? Not really yet, but the number of supporters is growing. Heck a few decades ago it was communist, it has all the right in the world of being behind the rest of the western world.

Sure, there are a lot of nations out there were being gay is illegal, even a death penalty, but I assure you that particular war will not be won on the internet.

Trolls. Most of them are punk kids who are still in school and doing their "hating" for shits and giggles. Many of them don't approach a gay person in real life with that attitude.

I say back away from the threads/posts, comment sections. IF an Anti-LGBT video is posted on YouTube do like I do, give it a thumbs down and report it then move on.

First, and to [MENTION=24582]Alonely[/MENTION], i also agree that arguing with trolls in comment sections is useless. Getting into it with people like that is just indulging their desire for attention, and will most likely just leave you feel frustrated and angry.

But i also wanted to throw in my thoughts on Bowyn's reply I quoted above. I absolutely agree with the sentiment that those of us who are part of the younger generation need to recognize, respect, and honor the men and women who came before us and fought to lay the foundation that we can stand on today, and that we should never take everything they've gone through for granted or to minimize their struggles. I also think its important to reflect on how far we have come, in a country like the USA.

But, other things that you wrote, [MENTION=12444]Bowyn Aerrow[/MENTION], caught my attention in another way. I know its hard to accurately pick up tone through reading text on a screen, but it seems like you dont have a super favorable view of the younger generation and where our priorities and attention are focused, or of the struggles still faced.

I have a pretty wide and diverse circle of gay acquaintances, including guys who take prep, and I wouldn't say my generation takes HIV/AIDS casually. Its not the same sort of trauma in this generation as it was in previous ones, but people also dont treat the risk of infection like a simple inconvenience. Yes there are things like prep and being positive isnt necessarily a death sentence anymore, but not everyone can afford or has access to those meds and life saving interventions. Its still a big deal and people still treat it as such.

Also the idea that we have won... Just because more and more people will say they are ok with gay people, doesn't mean we are at a place where we can get super comfortable. There is still more work to be done. People who identity as lgbt are still over represented in the homeless population, and that population is at a higher risk of violence and abuse than homeless people who identify as cis or straight. I know a lot of gay people might feel a certain way about being grouped in with trans people, but the trans population is at even more of a heightened risk for violence. They're under the same umbrella, they are part of our community - even if only through mutual exclusion - they are a another marginalized community, and their fight is one we should care about too.

There are still parts of this country where lgbt people can legally be denied employment or housing based on their sexual or gender identity. Even in NYC which people see as a very gay friendly city, lgbt identifying people are still violently attacked and murdered. The days of gay bashing are not over.

To think intersectionally, if you throw race into the conversation, lgbt people of color face even higher risks. The kind of platform and representation available to us is even more limited, and not only do we face homophobia and both systemic and interpersonal racism from the broader, heterosexual society, we also face racism within the gay community. A cop might get fired for laughing about a domestic dispute between two gay men these days, but we have also seen over and over again in recent years that there are certain loopholes where a cop can shoot down an unarmed person or have a person die suspiciously while in custody and still get off with very little punishment if any at all.

Im not trying to be all doom and gloom, I think things are getting better and better, but its not because society just naturally progresses in that direction - people are continuing to stand up and be loud and fight for that progress. Like I said, we cant take anything for granted. Your generation might have fought for a lot of what I was born into, but if my generation doesn't continue to hold on to those things and keep pushing things forward, we could lose it and backtrack through generations of hard work. Just because gay people can get married doesn't mean the fight - or our responsibility to stay vigilant - is over, any more than just because civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s meant that the fight against racism or sexism was over.

I mean i know im preaching to the choir, and im sure i havent said anything you guys havent heard before. But me and my big mouth couldnt read this thread, along with a few other posts on this site recently that seem to suggest that the political need for visibility is getting outdated, without putting out some of my opinions on the topic too. And im not trying to be rude or challenge anyone, just to present a different perspective of the younger generations.

Again, the older guys fought to get us a seat at the table, but its the next generations responsibility to keep showing up to the dinner. The older generations by now might have earned the right to relax and enjoy how far we've come, but the work of the younger generations has just begun. And we need you guys to trust us with that responsibility - not just to trust that we can do it and that we take it seriously, but also to trust in the validity of the things we are fighting for.