The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
There are many things happening on and around this day to try and fight against the evil that is homophobia and transphobia. Their site has a long list of excellent sources.
What I ask on this day is for people to stop. Simply stop.
Stop engaging in homophobia and transphobia
Stop heterosexism and cisexism.
Stop tolerating homophobia and transphobia.
Stop saying we’re less
No matter how minor, if someone says that GBLT people are worth less than straight, cis people, then they need to stop.
We will not make homophobia and transphobia go away simply by concentrating on people who throw bricks at us. Those people do not exist in a vacuum, they do not spring up put of nowhere. They exist because we have encouraged them - every day when we say gay and trans people are less, every day when we make those not-even-funny jokes. Every “no homo”, every “that’s so gay” every casual slur, every little slight; every time there’s another long debate on whether we’re due equal rights, every time another religious leader stands up to explain our sin, every time another leader tell us how wrong we are; and every time you are silent when you hear these, when you see these - this creates the bigots who beat and kill us. This puts the blood on your hands.
The hate does not exist in a vacuum. It is because we, as a society, agree to that hate and encourage that hate. When TV programmes still include vapid gay jokes and stereotypes, but we get outrage at gay kisses before the watershed. When priests explain why we’re not due humanity, when MPs rage and debate whether we’re due equality, when people rise to high office despite an unrelenting record of hatred, when every second of every minute of every hour of every day when we get disparaging slurs and contempt that people will not remove from their language - this is the soil in which hate grows, this is our society’s agreement to hate.
Stop agreeing to homophobia and transphobia. Stop encouraging it. We can’t continue this ridiculous charade of having homophobia and transphobia on every channel, in the pulpit, in the newspapers and in the Commons and then turn round in shock that another GBLT person has been kicked out by their parents, has committed suicide, has been hunted down in the street and beaten and burned and killed. We can’t cry the crocodile tears and say how horrible it is when every other day of the year we cheer lead for it.
Stop homophobia and transphobia. Stop it - don’t do it, don’t encourage it, don’t tolerate it.
What I ask on this day is for people to stop. Simply stop.
Stop engaging in homophobia and transphobia
Stop heterosexism and cisexism.
Stop tolerating homophobia and transphobia.
Stop saying we’re less
No matter how minor, if someone says that GBLT people are worth less than straight, cis people, then they need to stop.
We will not make homophobia and transphobia go away simply by concentrating on people who throw bricks at us. Those people do not exist in a vacuum, they do not spring up put of nowhere. They exist because we have encouraged them - every day when we say gay and trans people are less, every day when we make those not-even-funny jokes. Every “no homo”, every “that’s so gay” every casual slur, every little slight; every time there’s another long debate on whether we’re due equal rights, every time another religious leader stands up to explain our sin, every time another leader tell us how wrong we are; and every time you are silent when you hear these, when you see these - this creates the bigots who beat and kill us. This puts the blood on your hands.
The hate does not exist in a vacuum. It is because we, as a society, agree to that hate and encourage that hate. When TV programmes still include vapid gay jokes and stereotypes, but we get outrage at gay kisses before the watershed. When priests explain why we’re not due humanity, when MPs rage and debate whether we’re due equality, when people rise to high office despite an unrelenting record of hatred, when every second of every minute of every hour of every day when we get disparaging slurs and contempt that people will not remove from their language - this is the soil in which hate grows, this is our society’s agreement to hate.
Stop agreeing to homophobia and transphobia. Stop encouraging it. We can’t continue this ridiculous charade of having homophobia and transphobia on every channel, in the pulpit, in the newspapers and in the Commons and then turn round in shock that another GBLT person has been kicked out by their parents, has committed suicide, has been hunted down in the street and beaten and burned and killed. We can’t cry the crocodile tears and say how horrible it is when every other day of the year we cheer lead for it.
Stop homophobia and transphobia. Stop it - don’t do it, don’t encourage it, don’t tolerate it.