|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Bigotry at Work in Our Society | |||||||||||||
| Over the past several days, I have been researching several of the topics that we were assigned to write about in class and although love and success are great topics, several questions persistently resonated in my mind: What is wrong with us? What is the source for the building hatred we harbor against our fellow man? Our society is filled with an overwhelming amount of outright hatred. We cannot turn on our televisions or pick up a newspaper without hearing or reading about the demise of our society. Although hatred and discrimination are targeted at many different categories of people, my greatest concern is for the hatred directed at homosexuals, specifically homosexual teens. | |||||||||||||
| Over the past two years, I have read and heard many news reports of teenagers and young adults being beaten, killed, or driven to suicide because of their sexual orientation. On a larger scale, gay and lesbian teens are discriminated against on a daily bases at schools all around the nation. These students spend an inordinate amount of energy figuring out how to get to and from school safely, avoiding the hallways when other students are present in order to escape slurs and shoves, cutting gym classes to avoid being beaten. Essentially, attempting to become invisible. In some states, such as California and New York, there are alternative schools where youth who are desperate to escape the torment of high school can find acceptance and an environment conductive to learning. | |||||||||||||
| The desire to be invisible is one I know all too well. I attended a school which was more civilized than most, but even at my high school, anti-homosexual sentiments were obvious and part of daily life. Being a lesbian in high school was difficult enough, but having a girlfriend attending the same school only complicated the situation. I wanted to be able to show her the same displays of public affection that straight couples were able to, but I could not because I feared that someone would say something to hurt her feelings. Over time, I had grown accustomed to the slurs and the comments, but she had not yet been called any of the degrading terms that I was so familiar with. Unfortunately, I was not able to protect her for too long. Now it is something that we, as couple, simply find ourselves forced to deal with. | |||||||||||||
| It is difficult for me to understand why people hate homosexuals. What is it about the image of two men or two women walking down the street together holding hands that bothers so many people? Why does the government refuse to allow them to marry, is marriage not a promised right under The Constitution? Our society has deep-rooted hate for homosexuals and it is taught to every new generation, but it must be stopped, it is senseless hate that has caused the attempted suicides, suicides, and murders of many gays and lesbians. | |||||||||||||
| Gay and lesbian teens who commit suicide have been taught throughout their entire lives to hate themselves, the very essence of who they are. Many of them commit suicide because they fear what their parents might say or think. Others do it, or attempt to, because their families have rejected them or they have been labeled outcast. Religion plays a role in the development of self hatred. Many teens are made to believe that if they are gay and they act upon their desires, then they will go to hell. This is what my personal struggle revolved around. My religion taught me to hate myself, my society taught me to hate myself, and when my family found out, the taught me to hate myself as well. Suicide was on my mind constantly, it seemed like the most reasonable answer. It took me four suicide attempts to finally realize that my sexual orientation did not make me any less worthy of life. Although society, religion and my family may still hate me, I refuse to hate myself. | |||||||||||||
| We have all heard the news stories of Matthew Sheppard, the college student murdered for being gay, but he is only one of many. I have attended Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays meetings where parents of gay and lesbian children have told heartbreaking stories of how their children committed suicide or were murdered because of their sexual orientation. One of the mothers blamed herself because she, like my mother, tried to reform her son by shoving religion down his throat. He committed suicide only six months after coming out to his mother. | |||||||||||||
| I read an article titled, "Calling All Parents" by Gabriel Rotello. In his article, Rotello advises all parents to convey a message of unconditional love to their children because one never knows when ones child might be homosexual. Not conveying that message may make it harder for the child to tell their parents. The fear of being rejected can cause anxiety, depression and in some cases may even lead to suicide. Learning to hate starts in the home, shouldn?t learning to love start in the home as well? | |||||||||||||
| Our society is depressing to me. I feel as though I do not belong and not because I am lesbian, but because I cannot hate the way a lot of other people seem to be able to. Love is not something we can define only as the feelings a man and woman feel for each other. Love is love, no matter how it may manifest itself or what gender it may involve. When I look into my girlfriend's eyes, when I hold her in my arms, and when I kiss her, it is not disgusting like society says nor is it immoral like religion and my family say, its love. To dispute that definition would be to dispute my heart and no one can do that because I only know its contents. | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||