Lgbt

[austin]

So the LGBT community is a part of your life. what do you plan on doing to make it more
acceptable to yourself and your community .
Myself i want to make my voice heard by voting some of these homophobic jerks out of office. And all this bullying. in schools because of your sexual preference. oh hell naw.
I know i should. of came out sooner and might not make a difference at my school but i will say there are a lot more people in the closet than you think.So don't be afraid to stand up for who you are.

[Jovial]

Can't do much from inside the closet except watch the party go on from under the crack or via the keyhole. Though so far I have been defending the more effeminate among us, albeit without much effect.

[sillyboy86]

LGBT community is not a part of my life, except this forum.
I care about the rights of LGBT, the ethnic minorities, I'm feminist (nope, anti-sexist), I'm an herald of Art & Science & Culture, the respect for Nature etc etc.
But I'm a reserved person, so I do these things in my everyday without screaming around. Honestly sometimes I think about doing something crazy, and I don't exclude that in the future...
And I want to start doing some voluntary job.

I think you can start doing something as a volunteer for the support group of your school if exist something like this.

[mbennet35]

I do a lot of Social Media work. Post stuff on my blog and give links to helpful LGBT sites.

[dfiant1]

Never been involved in the GLBT community because it is only a small part of a bigger picture.

Bullying and inequality are issues I would like to see resolved, and it is not only gays and lesbian that suffer from these.

[Joshular]

Hmm well I say clear of the glbt "community". It's really more of a click here any way. I use to go to a queer youth group. I had about 20 people going cos of me. And that was fun while it lasted.

[southbiochem]

So the LGBT community is a part of your life. what do you plan on doing to make it more
acceptable to yourself and your community .
Myself i want to make my voice heard by voting some of these homophobic jerks out of office. And all this bullying. in schools because of your sexual preference. oh hell naw.
I know i should. of came out sooner and might not make a difference at my school but i will say there are a lot more people in the closet than you think.So don't be afraid to stand up for who you are.

ugh......people here tend to focus too much on the church, and yes, fucking Catholics have wrecked enough lives as it is...

but it's not them as much as the Catholic elites, that is parties and company owners who are catholic and make up for a strong wall of resistance against many things, like LBGT rights...

so the first step to take if things are going to improve here ever...is to kill them all...seriously...or wait on them to die and kidnap their children so they won't be raised all Opus Dei and shit...

once THAT nasty influence in power has dissapeared...many many good things will come for the underdogs....

anyway....that aside, I just don't vote for THOSE fuckers...maybe someday they'll be democratically ousted from positions of power

[Genersis]

I talk to people who I disagree with on a lot of things, and find to often be homophobic on a daily basis;
sharing my views on things, debating, arguing, in the process trying to show how normal gay folk are.
Doesn't really work, but that doesn't mean I should stop trying.
It's not much, I know.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

So the LGBT community is a part of your life. what do you plan on doing to make it more
acceptable to yourself and your community .

Actually no. I'm a gay man, sure, but the LGBT is not that big a part of my life - if anything I stay away from all of the LGBT 'community' crap because I find it overtly gay and pressing and way too into itself.

To be fair I feel that way about every community - thus am a recluse who lives in a forest and rarely leave the property - aside from monthly grocers trips, I haven't been anywhere in a few months and that was church to appease the old man who needed me there to prevent him from falling.

Myself i want to make my voice heard by voting some of these homophobic jerks out of office. And all this bullying. in schools because of your sexual preference. oh hell naw.

I know i should. of came out sooner and might not make a difference at my school but i will say there are a lot more people in the closet than you think.So don't be afraid to stand up for who you are.

Ok to pull the 'You are young card on ya'.

Truth is that when I was a kid being gay was a near death sentence. It was far, far, far worse being a gay teen in the early 1980's than it is today. Bullying was more horrifying than today.

I'm uncertain, but I think the incidence of baseball bats being used as a method to teach 'God's Love' to gays doesn't happen anymore. It was a popular 'teaching tool' back when I was a teen. I knew guys personally who were beaten badly just because they were gay.

There were no gay kids in my high school - Yes there were drama students, nerds, home ec boys - but openly honest to goodness LGBT - hell no - that would have been an automatic death sentence.

I am actually relieved to hear that many kids now days are coming out in high-school and not being murdered, hung out of trees, shoved off of high bridges - you know the general lynching party scenario.

The majority of the bullying is now just verbal. While its not great it is a huge improvement over what I have seen happen to gay people in decades past.

It is getting better - a lot better.

The secret weapon of the LGBT community is our LGBT people who openly live their lives as boring and dull and ordinary as those lives are. IT is me, the carpenter/handman who has gone into many homes through the years to fix broken crap and 'oh incidentally' the guy helping me move the bags of cement is my partner - no not my business associate - that sends a clear message that no we in the LGBT world do not have two heads and are monsters.

It is the firemen, doctors, nurses and yes even those who ask 'do you want to supersize that?' who are just there but queer that speak louder than any political vote, any rally any whisper campaign.

People knowing people who are ___________ (fill in the blank) break down the boundaries.

Doesn't matter if you came out 10 years ago, or today.. if you live your life being a person - queer you may be yes - you demonstrate that you are human first - that makes the difference and gets far many more votes for the 'good guys' (no such thing in politics) than those anti-gay ones.

[Woollyhats]

If you want to be involved in your school, being open is one way. However, don't be open with the intention of forcing people to accept you --- be open for the purpose of being true to yourself, and be the best person you can be.

In addition, many schools have groups now involved with promoting a safe environment for the school, which you can become involved with. I did that in highschool, and received training in conflict resolution and addressing harassment (which many people call bullying today).

I was never "out" in high-school, although there was an instance where individuals did learn my sexuality... it was such a short moment, I was asked to speak to the school about "Straight male privilege", and I declined on the basis that I wasn't straight, and spoke about white male privilege instead.

But I guess, my point is, is that you don't need to be open and loud, and specifically involved in LGBT related activities to make a difference --- you can be involved in broader activism as well, like making society a safe place for everyone. Do note, however, that if you want to be involved with LGBT support groups, or be a person that staunchly and openly supports gay rights --- I support you all the way, even if -- especially if you aren't even gay, because you are a person that might reach a young teen who has never seen anyone support anything LGBT related in his life, and you could save his life. Hello.

So whatever you do, and whatever other people on this forum do, whether it's a broad effort for safety for everyone, for LGBT persons, or even if you just take the passive role of treating people with respect and not voting for bigots, it's enough to be proud of.

Reading your thread also procures a desire to become involved in the LGBT group at my college, which seems to be linked to the health clinic (which helps gays and aids inflicted persons), including a gay presence at local parades, and trying to make a safe city for us. I've always liked them because they go the route of trying to include us in already existing things... Like instead of making "Gay parade parades ", they instill a gay presence in municipal celebrations. Of course, everyone will know I'm gay if I do that, but the people I haven't told yet need to find out somehow...Hmm...