General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsShattering the Homophobic Status Quo
https://medium.com/james-finn/shattering-the-homophobic-status-quo-fe7cf9f59e9fYes, homophobia is the default status quo
People casually accept its baked-in reality. I once wrote a story about the baker in Colorado who refused to serve a gay couple. I reject the insidious idea that a business owner can use religious doctrine to violate civil rights law. Its just as wrong to use religion to justify homophobia as it is to justify racism.
So many people dont get that, though. They defend religious homophobia strongly and constantly, even though theyd never defend religious racism.
A man commented on my baker article to tell me that everyone has a right to an opinion. That I have to accept that I might not be right, and the baker in Colorado is simply expressing deeply held religious beliefs.
No, I replied. The baker is stigmatizing and excluding gay people. Hes using his religious beliefs to justify the marginalization of innocent people, the marginalization of members of a minority. I told him that his own comment defending homophobia was itself a form of hate-based homophobia.
But I didnt say anything hateful at all, the man objected. There are two sides to every issue. You arent being reasonable.
end of quote
This article is rather interesting and makes some very valid points. When will we decide that being anti gay is as much a problem as being anti black or anti Hispanic?
cwydro
(51,308 posts)He just doesnt get it.
Celerity
(43,485 posts)https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/zmdwk3/here-are-the-homophobic-tweets-kevin-harts-not-sorry-for
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Hes a homophobic ass.
FreeState
(10,575 posts)"Thats how ingrained homophobia is That man couldnt or wouldnt see plain bigotry when it was staring him in the face. He argues with a straight face that defending bigotry isnt hateful."
Unfortunately this statement is all too true, even here on DU. Often homophobia is defended as pointing "semantics" or people being "too sensitive". It's all homophobia and there is no excuse IMO.
Behind the Aegis
(53,975 posts)Too bad it will likely fall upon deaf ears. A whole lot of straightsplainin' goes on anytime the topic is GLB issues or about homophobia. Some people are "woke" to racism and sexism, but when it comes to homophobia (and a few others), then those people are decidedly "asleep". We get to hear the aforementioned 'splainin' along with various "excuses", which if used in regards to other groups, would be shouted down and outright rejected; to wit: some of their best friends/family members who are gay say....; we shouldn't piss off people who are our allies; we need to understand there are greater evils in the world; what about heterosexism? (no, I am NOT even kidding!!); shift focus to GLBT as the "bad guys" (just look at some of the comments regarding the recent Kevin Hart issue) ("Maybe the Academy Award people are gay racists?" ) ; well, I once ate out a chick (female)/or I got my dick sucked by a dude off and on for years and he was the best at it (male); I'll watch anything with David Schwimmer in it.
Ok, the last one is a "Family Guy" joke, but the rest, sadly, aren't jokes and are often employed by so-called allies. I will also point out the last paragraph, which is very important too:
Some of us even defend it. Thats the saddest thing to me. Some of us make excuses for official and institutional homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia. We cant bring ourselves to just say that discriminating against LGBTQ people is morally wrong. Its like we dont know how to break out of our toxic mindsets and thinking patterns.
Just like there are blacks who defend or make excuses for racism, or women who do the same in regards to sexism/misogyny, or Jews who do the exact same when it comes to anti-Semitism, there are those in the GLBT community so conditioned by a heterosexist/homophobic culture and society, they end up spewing some of the same hate or worse, defending it!
How do we stop it? We confront it and no matter the push back, we stand our ground and fight against homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, just like we would any other form of bigotry.
912gdm
(959 posts)awesome as always my friend
Behind the Aegis
(53,975 posts)James Finn
(2 posts)I'm the author of the piece and I happened to notice this thread from my stats on Medium.com where it's published. Thanks a lot for the feedback and thanks for trying to get the article noticed a little more.
James Finn
The Polack MSgt
(13,191 posts)Come here for the feedback stick around for ... Well, uhhhmmm, there's some arguing, recipes and song recommendations. That works right?
Nah. JK
Really welcome aboard
James Finn
(2 posts)Appreciate the welcome!