musings of wrath

Repost this if you believe that homophobia is wrong.

There’s this meme going around, with some rather insightful statements concerning the abuse of someone because of their sexual preferences/differences from the “norm”.

I don’t believe homophobia is wrong. I believe acting on that fear and harming another human being is wrong.

Sometimes, people can’t help their fears - rational or otherwise.

However, that’s no excuse for violence.

Amen.

I agree that people misuse the word.

Hate speech isn’t violence. Nor is protesting a dead boy’s funeral, which has been done by the anti-gay crowd.

Replace the word “homophobia” above with “racism.”

It’s not okay to be racist if you’re never violent about it. There’s a lot of other harm you can do . . . social, financial, emotional.

It’s never okay to be afraid of people for an arbitrary reason.

Harming doesn’t have to be physical to be harmful.

I must echo ’s sentiment. I like his replacement idea a lot, but my take is a bit different.

Why does someone fear in the case of homophobia? Is it because there is a rational basis for their fear? Is it something they learned? Is it a world view?

I contend that homophobia is an irrational fear: Last time I checked, “gay bashing” meant beating the crap out of your local fag, not the kind of beating you got from a gay rugby team. The power is concentrated the other way and the “fear” is rooted in insecurity, anxiety, and a world view that feels threatened.

That world view does not correspond to reality. That world view is wrong. We have treatments for irrational fears–the problem is that this irrational world view is majority-culture approved.

Best meme Ive seen yet!!

I guess my point is, acting on those fears is what’s wrong. If someone’s afraid, and keeps it to themselves, they’re only hurting themselves. Their choice. I’d rather they got help, but I can’t force them to get it.

This boils down to semantics, I suppose?

I can also say that I believe the culture approval of that fear is wrong.

On an slightly related subject: The worst part about it is, I find myself arguing with my religious peers on a near-daily basis on the issue of homosexuality. Free will means just that - let people be what they are, don’t judge them because they don’t fit in your happy little belief of what you think they should be.

One of the best I’ve seen, as well. However, I think everyone on my friends list has read it at this point.

I don’t think that it is a semantic question. It is a question that requires action, very similarly to the question of racism. I think you know this; your statement about cultural approval of the fear shows that we’re not too far off.

Research is pretty clear that homosexuality is not an issue of choice; if that’s where the free will is, I say “will yourself to have purple hair.”

Whether it’s an issue of choice should be irrelevant to my religious peers - if they truly believe what they claim. If someone isn’t what you are, it doesn’t mean you should hate or fear them.

But yes, it really isn’t a choice - except on the level of choosing to ignore your true self and all that.
As to the purple hair - too late.

tsal ol’ buddy, you’ve just earned even more respect points with me.
Glad to see we still agree on a few things.

Ehem.

Preference?

*taps foot*