I genuinely expected to read some positivity in the comment section and all I was confronted with was really bigoted opinions. I had typed out a reply to one particularly abusive comment and was seconds away from pressing send, then I thought of something that my friend Ben said to me the other day which was; 'you can't argue with an idiot' and so I stopped myself. I didn't want to waste my evening getting embroiled in some slanging match with a person that 'types lik dis' because there really would be no point. Therefore I thought that I would use this little corner of the internet that is my blog to discuss the matter instead.
These are some of the comments that I read:
I'm not homophobic but...they're making such a big thing about being gay, what am I going to tell my children when they ask what being gay means?
If your kids asks you what being gay means you simply answer that a man can love another man and a woman can love another woman and as long as they treat each other with respect then it is ok. If you make the notion of being gay normal to a child they won't question it, they won't recoil in horror and melt on the spot, they'll instead grow up understanding that being gay is not a problem and that it shouldn't be kept a secret. My friend has two daughters and they couldn't give two hoots that Sam and I are a couple, all they care about is that we take them to the park and buy them sweets, because they've been taught from a young age that gay couples are the norm.
I find it mind- boggling that parents will tell their children stories about some weird fucking fairy that comes into their room at night, creeps under their pillow, and hoards all their old teeth in exchange for money. Or about some morbidly obese man that climbs in their house at Christmas, eats all their food, leaves a few prezzies and then buggers off and does it to their neighbour, but get freaked out when having to explain that two people of the same sex can love each other?!
I'm not homophobic but...I don't need my face rubbed in it, they should keep it private!
See...I feel the same bloody way when I see Magic Mike strippers thrusting their dangly bits in over excited women's faces in what was a mainstream film (only certified a 15) - but that is ok apparently? If two guys/ girls are so much as holding hands in public that is ramming it down your throat?
(The woman who actually wrote this comment had a profile picture of herself and what I assume to be her husband/ boyfriend kissing! Talk about some hypercritical nonsense right there.)
Gay Pride celebrations are not a tool for the LGBT community to spread their 'secret agenda' to corrupt your children, its merely a celebration of how far we have come as a society from the discrimination that plagued the community only 20/30 years ago (and from the comments that I saw on FB there is still a long way to go). It's supposed to be a party and whether you're gay, straight, black, white, purple with yellow spots, punk, goth, prep, jock no one cares because everyone is invited to join in.
I'm not homophobic but...it seems like it's 'cool' to be gay now and people are just joining the bandwagon!
Firstly, (and I'm going to say this really loud so it can be heard loud and clear) ahem *coughs* *breaths deep* BEING GAY IS NOT A CHOICE!!!
Secondly, it is not the 'in thing' to be gay now, it may seem that way because there are more high profile LGBT folk in the music, film, sports, celeb world than ever before and you may know of more gay folk in your community than you did a decade ago but this doesn't necessarily mean that there are more of them than years ago, it just means that more are out of the closest and are able to enjoy their lives being true to themselves.
Trust me there were definitely gay people around back in the day too it's just they were probably too scared to come out because of the discrimination they would face.
I'm not homophobic but...if they get a gay pride day can we get a straight pride day? Of course not it would be politically incorrect!
Seriously!? This is still a response in 2015. It makes me sad.
These are the kind of people that claim to want to have a 'white history month' because there is a black history month or want an 'international man's day' when its international women's day. They completely miss the point in these events; they are a celebration of how far society (should have) progressed from the days of discrimination which in some parts of the world was apparent, by law, less than 20 years ago (e.g. the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act only came into play in South Africa in 2000).
If you are Caucasian and live in the Western world then you have most likely never had to fight for your right to sit at the front of a bus or enter a certain restaurant, if you are male then you won't have had to fight for your right to vote, if you are heterosexual then you most likely haven't ever had to fight for your right to marry the person you love (NB: this is not guilt mongering for those who are either a. heterosexual, b. Caucasian or c. male or d. all of the above) and therefore, in a way, you should be thankful that you don't need to have a pride day to celebrate the overcoming of oppression.
A lot of people will say that there is no such thing as discrimination on the basis of sexuality in this day and age and it's just 'political correctness gone wrong' but that is in no way the case. I have never been a victim of any sort of homophobic bullying or violence and I count myself as extremely lucky for that but even I have had people tut and make snide comments about me when I hold my girlfriend's hand in public. I've had someone take a photo of me in the cinema when I had my hand on my girlfriend's knee, I've had some really obscene things said to me by people that have only just me and I've been told that I'm disgusting by some crazy backpacker guy when I lived in NZ. Until being gay is merely seen as the norm then we still have a long way to go and that is why we need to continue the promotion of equality amongst all social groups through all aspects of our community whether it is the police, the media or schools.
And if after all that you're still a raging, homophobic bigot then I shall leave you with this beautiful image of Ray and Silo; two gay penguins from the New York City zoo who adopted a baby penguin whose mummy and daddy couldn't look after it (and if you don't find this cute then check your pulse because you are legally dead inside.)
Hello and welcome to This Ruth Is On Fire, a UK blog which is a haven for random thoughts and sarcastic observations.
I'm also into books, clothes and visiting places too.
