I recently received an email inviting me to join NMU ALLIES. ALLIES is a group on campus that shows support for a subset of the population. Specifically, the Bee Gees, the Elles, and the Tease
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I guess I could be snarky here and say that nobody has ever had to say, "Mom, Dad, I think you need to know that I'm Italian."
While plenty of ethnic groups are faced with varying levels of stereotyping and discrimination, they also usually have legal protections against discrimination. You're not likely to see a job hanging a sign that says "HELP WANTED - IRISH NEED NOT APPLY" in this day and age.
Depending on your jurisdiction, LGBT folk may not have the same protections. In some states, you can be fired for being gay. You can lose your apartment if you have a significant other who happens to to be of the same sex as yourself. And even in states that have figured out legal protections for gay people, were are significantly behind the times on rights for transgendered people.
There's still enough cultural opposition to gay people in parts of the U.S. that many remain closeted and won't bring that sort of thing up publicly, so they'd probably rather know that someone they're going to with an issue understands these things. Many are the gay youth who have been thrown out of their homes by their "loving Christian" parents for coming out. Even in New York City in 2013, you can be brutally assaulted -- mere blocks from the Stonewall Inn, no less! -- just for being gay.
Progress has been made; the movement toward marriage equality has been advancing, and discrimination is being more publicly reviled as stupid and backwards. There's even been a faint acknowledgement of transgender issues by Biden -- which is its own area that I'm not qualified to go over much more than the basics about. Even so, there's still a long way to go, including informing allies.
To come to it from the long way around, displaying that sticker is kind of a big deal in that you're not someone who is going to anonymously pass word on that "this student is a faaaaag" or do something unforgivably asinine and attempt to preach at them for violating laws written by sheepherders a few thousand years ago.
Living in a college town where there are active groups to support the gay community, I've always (in my adult life) seen it as something that is accepted, and I always thought gays getting beaten was something that you only hear about in the Laramie Project. However, my personal experience is quite limited, and you are right. I occasionally read the news. People do still get beaten, people do still get kicked out of their homes, and people do still get fired.
I see what you're saying. For example, I don't like most laws, especially ones written by sheepherders in bygone millennia, but strangers don't know that about me. People who see the sticker will instantly understand something about me. They'll know what I am not.
While plenty of ethnic groups are faced with varying levels of stereotyping and discrimination, they also usually have legal protections against discrimination. You're not likely to see a job hanging a sign that says "HELP WANTED - IRISH NEED NOT APPLY" in this day and age.
Depending on your jurisdiction, LGBT folk may not have the same protections. In some states, you can be fired for being gay. You can lose your apartment if you have a significant other who happens to to be of the same sex as yourself. And even in states that have figured out legal protections for gay people, were are significantly behind the times on rights for transgendered people.
There's still enough cultural opposition to gay people in parts of the U.S. that many remain closeted and won't bring that sort of thing up publicly, so they'd probably rather know that someone they're going to with an issue understands these things. Many are the gay youth who have been thrown out of their homes by their "loving Christian" parents for coming out. Even in New York City in 2013, you can be brutally assaulted -- mere blocks from the Stonewall Inn, no less! -- just for being gay.
Progress has been made; the movement toward marriage equality has been advancing, and discrimination is being more publicly reviled as stupid and backwards. There's even been a faint acknowledgement of transgender issues by Biden -- which is its own area that I'm not qualified to go over much more than the basics about. Even so, there's still a long way to go, including informing allies.
To come to it from the long way around, displaying that sticker is kind of a big deal in that you're not someone who is going to anonymously pass word on that "this student is a faaaaag" or do something unforgivably asinine and attempt to preach at them for violating laws written by sheepherders a few thousand years ago.
Reply
Living in a college town where there are active groups to support the gay community, I've always (in my adult life) seen it as something that is accepted, and I always thought gays getting beaten was something that you only hear about in the Laramie Project. However, my personal experience is quite limited, and you are right. I occasionally read the news. People do still get beaten, people do still get kicked out of their homes, and people do still get fired.
I see what you're saying. For example, I don't like most laws, especially ones written by sheepherders in bygone millennia, but strangers don't know that about me. People who see the sticker will instantly understand something about me. They'll know what I am not.
Reply
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