We see it over and over again. The news covers this topic almost every day. “No more bullying,” all the headlines say. Is it really about bullying though? Or is it about the naivety of most Americans? When young adults or even adults have been in an environment where they know nothing about homosexuals, or have grown up in a conservative home, or don’t know differently than to be slightly homophobic, it’s inevitable that they won’t understand.
You wouldn’t walk up to a straight guy at a party and say, “Oh my gosh! You’re that straight guy in the eleventh grade right?” in order to classify who he may be but you would go up to a gay guy and say, “Oh my god, you’re that gay guy!”
What a lot of people don’t understand is that not all gay people are gay activists. Not all of them belong to a gay society or a gay club, not all of them are in public relationships, and not all of them flaunt and parade their sexuality to the world. But some straight people do. Take a celebrity like Britney Spears. She’s a heterosexual woman, but flaunts her sexuality in her lyrics and dances. No one accuses her of being too straight, though she may be too risqué. Lady Gaga is a prime example of a flashy, ornate, gay activist. People love her uniqueness but a lot are disgusted by her flamboyance. Not all heterosexuals like Britney Spears dress risqué-like, and not all homosexuals (or bisexual) wear big head-pieces and meat outfits to prove their point.
A lot of anti-gays use the fact that gay societies have their own parades and clubs. If a straight organization wanted to have their own parade, they have pretty much every right to. Though, the gay community might be all up-in-arms, but they’re allowed to. To enlighten those who don’t believe in the ideas of gay rights movement’s societies and parades, plenty of straight people also participate in these events. It’s more unfortunate than anything that the gay society has to form their own alliance to feel like they belong somewhere. If the rest of the world treated the gay community like human beings, like they did have a place in the world, and like they aren’t that different then they wouldn’t need to have clubs and societies and gay-rights movements to prove their point and place in the world.
This isn’t a bullying issue. Children or teens who grow up in conservative households don’t know differently than to be judgmental of homosexuals. But as they grow older, they should be able to see that there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with the gay community. Their form of love and attraction works the same way as everybody else’s. They’re able to sustain relationships, have children, and contribute wellness to their society and the society that everybody cohabitates in. And to be honest, there are [plenty] homosexuals who you would never guess in a million years that they’re gay.
Whether you believe that being gay is a choice or it’s something you’re born with, there still shouldn’t be any type of alienation or ostracism of any group of people, because as you’re all taught in school, bullying is wrong.
There is no certainty of how many gay people in the world there are. That’s because it does not matter. It’s a trait that certain people carry. It doesn’t mean they’re harmful, or specifically different. Everybody is different. It will take years for people to warm up to the gay community, just like how racism still exists everywhere you go. Just like you can’t control being 5’7, a gay person can’t control being gay. It’s hard not to judge people. Excessive hate for a certain group of people happens all the time but there is no reason to hate these people. If one gay person hangs out with ten straight people and wears normal clothes and doesn’t wear rainbow wristbands and isn’t in a relationship, then what’s so wrong with that?
A lot of gay activists parade around the fact that they’re gay. It could definitely be annoying but it’s their defense mechanism. It may take a long time for everyone to be more tolerant and accepting of these things because of how hard certain people make it, but if everyone treated everyone the way they wish to be treated then the world would be a better place (it’s first grade stuff!).