Gay rights - or LGBTI/Queer rights
"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?"
-- Ernest Gaines
We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on livejournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". Thanks.
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.
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And now I will explain why I think of this as gay rights, or LGBTI rights, or queer rights, and not simply human rights. And why, in the same way, I call myself a feminist and an anti-racism ally, and not a "humanist" or an "equalist" (by the way Nick, if you read this, this isn't a dig at you at all, but your post about this did make me think about this issue thoroughly).
I genuinely believe that equality lies in everyone getting not "an equal share", but what they need. I believe that everyone should have the right to be the person they are, love whoever they love, and fuck whoever they want to fuck (provided it's consensual of course) without getting marginalised, punished or discriminated because of it. The reason I don't call myself an "equalist" is because this term takes attention away from the most urgent causes, the causes where change is actually needed. By saying there's a need for "gay rights", I'm highlighting the fact that LGBTI people are victims of discrimination every day because of their gender and sexuality, and that it's these rights that we need to fight for. We don't need to fight for straight people's rights (as far as sexuality is concerned) - straight people are the mainstream, and the norm. Institutions, laws, religion are all biased towards straight people.
So I most definitely believe in the fight for gay rights. Of course queer people are "just normal people". But this doesn't mean that queer people are treated the same by most of society, or that queer people have had the same experiences in life regarding their sexuality as straight people have (there is of course a continuum of "straight", and not all straight people have had the same sexual experiences in life, etc.) Queer people have a separate and distinct set of problems affecting them, that don't affect non-queers - which is why I refer to them specifically as "gay/queer rights", and not as the umbrella category they come under, "human rights".
I don't think we can afford to be "blind" - "gender-blind", "colour-blind", "sexuality-blind", etc., if we actually believe in equality. We have to name the problem (thus recognising it), and we have to be specific, in order to tackle it head-on.
p.s. I realise that the very terms "queer" or "LGBTI" are quite general, and that different challenges face the very different people represented by these terms - but what they have in common is that they all (or most) are discriminated against based on gender and/or sexuality, as opposed to non-queers.
-- Ernest Gaines
We would like to know who really believes in gay rights on livejournal. There is no bribe of a miracle or anything like that. If you truly believe in gay rights, then repost this and title the post as "Gay Rights". Thanks.
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.
------------------
And now I will explain why I think of this as gay rights, or LGBTI rights, or queer rights, and not simply human rights. And why, in the same way, I call myself a feminist and an anti-racism ally, and not a "humanist" or an "equalist" (by the way Nick, if you read this, this isn't a dig at you at all, but your post about this did make me think about this issue thoroughly).
I genuinely believe that equality lies in everyone getting not "an equal share", but what they need. I believe that everyone should have the right to be the person they are, love whoever they love, and fuck whoever they want to fuck (provided it's consensual of course) without getting marginalised, punished or discriminated because of it. The reason I don't call myself an "equalist" is because this term takes attention away from the most urgent causes, the causes where change is actually needed. By saying there's a need for "gay rights", I'm highlighting the fact that LGBTI people are victims of discrimination every day because of their gender and sexuality, and that it's these rights that we need to fight for. We don't need to fight for straight people's rights (as far as sexuality is concerned) - straight people are the mainstream, and the norm. Institutions, laws, religion are all biased towards straight people.
So I most definitely believe in the fight for gay rights. Of course queer people are "just normal people". But this doesn't mean that queer people are treated the same by most of society, or that queer people have had the same experiences in life regarding their sexuality as straight people have (there is of course a continuum of "straight", and not all straight people have had the same sexual experiences in life, etc.) Queer people have a separate and distinct set of problems affecting them, that don't affect non-queers - which is why I refer to them specifically as "gay/queer rights", and not as the umbrella category they come under, "human rights".
I don't think we can afford to be "blind" - "gender-blind", "colour-blind", "sexuality-blind", etc., if we actually believe in equality. We have to name the problem (thus recognising it), and we have to be specific, in order to tackle it head-on.
p.s. I realise that the very terms "queer" or "LGBTI" are quite general, and that different challenges face the very different people represented by these terms - but what they have in common is that they all (or most) are discriminated against based on gender and/or sexuality, as opposed to non-queers.