I hear this said a lot that the LGBT community is getting out of control. People get really annoyed when we "shove our gay agenda down their throats". They hate it when we're "loud and proud" and "making a big deal of ourselves". They think that if we want equality, we shouldn't be making such a big spectacle of ourselves. Because straight people don't go around talking about how straight they are and how they have straight pride.
Are they correct in saying this? Is wearing our LGBT badges a bad thing? Could this whole website itself be bad? I mean, it is a site for the LGBT to chat, right? How come we aren't just chatting in any regular forum? If we want equality, shouldn't we be doing that instead of putting ourselves in a group? Personally, I feel gay pride is justified because I don't feel like we've reached that level of equality yet. People celebrate their sexuality because they know not everyone will be okay with it, but they don't want what others say get them down. Back when segregation was a thing, did the black community just sit around and do nothing to reach equality? No. They embraced their heritage and continued to fight for their equality and didn't shut up until they reached their goal. I really feel like the LGBT are in a very similar boat. Things are getting better, but we're still not there yet. People don't go around saying how proud they are of their straightness because no one cares. Being straight is expected and I haven't heard any stories about a straight person getting harassed or treated unfairly because they're straight. Just like it'd be pretty difficult to hear someone talk about the trials and tribulations of being a white man back then. When did it become a crime to be proud of who you are? I think people can celebrate who and what they are without being all high and mighty about it and think they're better than everyone else. That's my opinion at least.
We do what now? This just sounds like more phobic behavior based on imagination to me. I hardly even mention my sexuality outside of this site. And really, there's only one big annual event dedicated to homosexuality. Are people really that offended by a single display of a pride parade? What the hell is even wrong with any kind of pride anyways? I'm proud of my family history (some parts of it) and my awesome car. Are people offended by those just because the pride I have in them? Why can't I be proud of one other part of my life that I used to be ashamed of?
Ahem...
Anyways, you and I are really just preaching to the choir here. That is mostly what this site is for though, so whatever. Let's bitch about it!
I can't speak for any other LGBT out there, but not me.
A lot of people are claiming rights, and nothing more, people have done this over many things in the past, like equal rights for women, the end of racial segregation, how many strikes have you seen throughout history for better working conditions? Maaaaaaany...
Just like you have mentioned in your post, to which I agree.
they were all "loud and proud" and they all made the conservative elites as uncomfortable as we make them now.
Now, some people go on the wrong direction, some people overdo, some people take it to the extreme....this happens with any type of claim not just within the LGBT community...
I will only quote this
TonyAndonuts Wrote:I mean, it is a site for the LGBT to chat, right? How come we aren't just chatting in any regular forum?.
This is different...I can't go to any other forum that's not LGBT to vent about this..because I'm closeted..
This place is a safe haven for many poeple who can't or won't openly disclose tey are LGBT
Yes actually we are shoving it down their throats and making unreasonable demands. We could have the decency to keep our minority issues to ourselves instead of nag and complain that we are fired for being LGBT, harassed, arrested, beaten and hung on fences, get our cars keyed with various misspellings of 'faggot'...
Why can't we have the decency to be lynched quietly and not make a fuss about it?
Our silence for centuries only made matters worse. The day finally came when we arose and in one voice said 'No, we ain't taking this anymore'.
As a result in many places around the world LGBT is not seen as a medical 'issue' - As far as the 1970's homosexuality was a "psychiatric mental health issue" and was treated with electro-shock therapy.
We were banned from the military, banned from work. No one cared if a gay was lynched by a mob, beaten with baseball bats - heck even turning to the police was not even something LGBT could do since the police would join in on the bashing.
Gay marriage is still on the docket in most of the States. Then we have other places like Russia singling out LGBT for special prosecution, and African Nations seeking the death penalty. We have the Muslim world that kills people for being LGBT.
No straight person is at threat for being straight - no one is going to kill a straight person because that person is straight, no one is denying a straight person a job, police protection, the right to marry simply because that person is straight.
Wearing a rainbow flag reminds straight people that we are here and that we are still being persecuted for being here 'just because'....
The irony is that once we are given what we want, we will go away. We will suddenly cease to be outloud and 'proud' - we will suddenly have no need to wave it in their face and scream at them to give us our basic human rights.
Like it or not, all of the flag waving, the in your face 'I'm here I'm Queer' rhetoric for the past oh 50 years has resulted (at least in the USA) in vast changes in how we as a people are treated.
The majority of those changes have taken place in this century. It took about 30 years before our message was understood and we got things like Military Service without fear of being kicked out, gay marriage in several states, the right and dignity to go to work and not be fired because we happen to love someone of the same gender.
Since 2005 how many gay rallies for Gay Marriage has formed and actively pursued Gay Marriage in Canada? Amazingly enough none - once Canada gave gay marriage to its people the LGBT stopped pestering and annoying the rest of the nation for that basic right.
What does that mean, to "shove something down someones throats"????
Well, to me, it means that its a never ending bombardment of advertising, preaching, and tantrum throwing from one person to others, or from one group to others.
Religious people are CONSTANTLY shoving theirs views down other peoples throats. Because its a never ending bombardment of harassment, advertisement, preaching, and tantrum throwing because they think everybody else should live and think like they do.
And yes, A LOT (but not all) "gay" groups and organizations do "shove stuff down peoples throats".
I find that offensive and degrading. "Pride Parades" are one form of this "shoving" you speak of.
Wearing a Tshirt with a logo on it is not "shoving something down someones throat". Wearing a button is. Waving a rainbow flag is. Because these are separated items. A Tshirt is just a piece of clothing with something made on it. And we are used to seeing Tshirts with personal statements on them, so it is something we (by "we" I mean the general public) do not find offensive. But if you wear a button, a sticker, a tattoo, or fly the rainbow flag, then those are articles dedicated to "telling you something", or "shoving a thought or premise down your throat".
Lets say you have a rainbow flag sticker on the back of your car. Is that shoving your opinions/beliefs down someones throats? Yes it is. Its a separate entity designed to inflict a specific thought or belief onto another.
Look at it from an advertising point of view.....
If it is something that conveys a specific belief, thought, or ideal, and it makes you think about it when you see it........then it is something that is being "shoved down your throat".
This can be said of pretty much everything, yes. But its the context in which you use it also.
If you live in a "gay" area, then you will probably see tons of rainbow stickers on vehicles. Which is acceptable for that area, because it is not something being "shoved".
Now once you drive that vehicle out of that area, where that sticker/symbol is not a "daily event", then you are "shoving" your ideals down someone elses throat" who see's that sticker.
BUT, then again, it also depends on the person to whom the ideals are being "shoved" at. Where as one person might think "oh god, another fag" when they see that sticker, someone else may think "good for you, my sister is gay".
I wouldnt worry about it though. Its been going on for centuries, and will never stop. Its a part of human existence.
The only thing you can do, is be mindful of what YOU put out/advertise as your personal ideals/thoughts/beliefs.
Claiming rights and fighting for equality is always going to be a hard and controversial battle.
You mentioned the civil rights movement, which MArtin Luther King was a pioneer of. His dad was actually a supporter of segregation, and disagreed with Martin Luther King on many levels. But his son fought on anyway.
The LGBT movement is similar --- our friends and families are often not going to support us, but how much of a fight we put forward now is going to reflect on what we have several decades from now. And really, the right to fall in love, the right to not be shamed into suicide, the right to talk about our partners when others talk about their partners, the right to express ourselves are not "too much", and never will be.
Everyone is straight until proven otherwise. If you're a guy %95 of people will go "so... are you seeing a girl right now?" and if you're a girl... you know the rest. It's a straight world we're living in. I know this is very ignorant and all but it's true there're still people out there saying that being gay is wrong because a relationship is normal only when it's between a man and a woman, they can make a baby and all the other bullshit. People don't give a fuck if you're a boy and don't even make eye contact with you when you walk down the street with your girlfriend, holding hands... But they do turn their heads if you two are both boys or girls. There are countries where homosexuality is a sin and you can easily kill an lgbt person without going to jail. Do you have any idea what lgbt people are going through outside the U.S. ? I don't do pride parades but I understand when others do. They aren't making a big deal out of it, others are. We don't want foreign eyes on us on the street, don't want to be judged by people who don't even fucking know our names. What about gay marriage? He can get married but I can't because I, in an unnatural way like dick right? Oh I see it now it totally makes sense. I just want to get married and live my fucking life, without snooping into other people's business, it's just gonna be me and my partner and maybe we'll adopt a dog or a cat... whatever, I haven't decided yet but I will decide by MYSELF 'cause it's MY damn problem. You see my point. So if others let us do whatever the hell we wanted, if people didn't generalize everything this much, didn't try so hard to make other people's life a living hell for no reason.. we wouldn't be categorized as gay, bi, transgender but human first.
You see we're not the only ones in one specific group, there're straight(normal) people, fat people, skinny people, popular people, rich, poor. People categorize people in any case, no one is gonna evaluate you as a human being they are gonna evaluate you as gay, straight, fat, poor first then comes the 'human being' part at the end.
Websites like this one, help us not to lose our minds, make us realize we're not alone. We get the support we need we might not get from our own parents.
And yeah, straight people don't go around talking about how straight they are and they don't have straight pride 'cause they already own the world.
I would like to see LGBT rights and I dont think fighting for those rights is shoving it down peoples throats.
One thing that my "straight friends" tell me is that I do not act like I am gay. I am just me. They say the only way they know is when I comment on a guy being cute or someting like that.
I have seen some people shoving it down others throat but for the most part all the other LGBT people I have met are pretty good and calm about things.
11-18-2013, 09:22 PM (Edited 11-18-2013, 09:24 PM by Chase.)
Some are, some aren't.
I'll tell you one thing though, one group of people that are shoving their agenda down other peoples throats are the "pro-family" (a Newspeak word for homophobic).
Ask yourself this: has a gay person ever made millions of dollars telling people hurricanes are caused by people they disagree with? No, yet people like Pat Robertson rake in big $$$ to convince millions of people into thinking that is what causes natural disasters.
Just watch this, it may disturb you:
Did you listen to that? Do you really think the most risque of pride parades can come close to that level of offensiveness?
Irregardless, I'd prefer it if the attitude in differences in sexual orientation were as simple as the attitude for the differences in left and right handedness.
Are we shoving our gayness down people's throats?
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Virgo
