My sophomore year the plan was to go around chalking "don't keep your tooth-brushing identity a secret" and "tooth-brushing is a political statement" and "come out of the bathroom" and "if you don't tell people about your tooth-brushing, you're living a lie" next to the inflammatory coming-out week statements. We never did. But if they get me irritated this year I might anyway.
Thank you Layna. I just got back from the Nat'l Coming Out Day open circle or whatever it was we called it (and yes, twas today, because... Mary Baldwin is weird) and I was feeling incredibly guilty about all the people I'm not out to, about all the people on campus who don't know I'm gay. Nevermind that they don't know I exist, I apparently have an obligation to tell them that I'm in love with a girl. *sighs*
So now my guilt has disappeared and I feel happy that I can write letters and talk on LJ and just generally be me without having to make it a political statement.
First of all, I would like to say that I respect your opinion, and agree in certain places. However (and my intention is not to start a polemic), I would like to raise one or two points. I agree that fighting discrimination and cruelty is everyone's job, not just those targeted. However, the problem is that politics are never strictly impersonal, and all the abstract arguments in the world can sometimes be less effective than forcing someone to confront the fact that someone they know and respect or care about is a member of the group they are maltreating. Although everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how much we may dislike it, it is difficult to keep an unchallenged widespread hatred from spilling into violence and other unacceptable actions. We cannot prosecute others for their ideas, but we can attempt to persuade them. And while sexuality may be a small and for the most part invisible part of your life, this is not so for many others. It becomes not so much a matter of announcing it as of no longer hiding it, which
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However, the problem is that politics are never strictly impersonal, and all the abstract arguments in the world can sometimes be less effective than forcing someone to confront the fact that someone they know and respect or care about is a member of the group they are maltreating. Although everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how much we may dislike it, it is difficult to keep an unchallenged widespread hatred from spilling into violence and other unacceptable actions. We cannot prosecute others for their ideas, but we can attempt to persuade them. And while sexuality may be a small and for the most part invisible part of your life, this is not so for many others. It becomes not so much a matter of announcing it as of no longer hiding it, which many feel they must do for fear of the repurcussions of being open. Invisibility is very damaging to a person's psyche: there are countless examples of heterosexuality everywhere we look, in the media, on film and television, in books, ect., yet almost none of homo- or bisexuality
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Comments 12
I've been trying to write a response for at least ten minutes now, and i keep going back and revising what i'm saying and what i think you're saying.
And the more i reread your entry the more i find i agree with what you're saying.
So i'm just gonna stop and go do schoolwork.
I can, however, take a stand and say that that song is one of the saddest songs ever in my mind. (Partly 'cause i have real person connotations.)
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My sophomore year the plan was to go around chalking "don't keep your tooth-brushing identity a secret" and "tooth-brushing is a political statement" and "come out of the bathroom" and "if you don't tell people about your tooth-brushing, you're living a lie" next to the inflammatory coming-out week statements. We never did. But if they get me irritated this year I might anyway.
Layna, I love you.
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So now my guilt has disappeared and I feel happy that I can write letters and talk on LJ and just generally be me without having to make it a political statement.
*love*
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Who is this person who goes to Mary Baldwin?
And how the hell is Staunton doing these days, anyhow? Don't tell me you're a PEG, too...
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Who are you?
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