Tonight, from the very pits of my Feminist Lair, I will be ranting about Flaming Homosexuals (yay yippee Hooray).
I am so glad to be living in this day and age, where being gay is more and more and more accepted. Finally when people say that there is equality in the U.S., there will actually be equality. I am also glad that I am mostly surrounded by extremely accepting people. People my age around me feel very safe, and aren't afraid of expressing their sexual orientation. Bi. Pansexual. Demisexual. Gay. Straight. Lesbian. Asexual. Queer. Trans as well, but that is a gender identification (duh). And btw "Queer" is not an insult. It's actually an identifying word that is used by non-straightys. Anyways. I'm extremely lucky to be in this gay-ok atmosphere. This is not to say that there still isn't discrimination and bullying of people/youths in the LGBTQ* community. I know that it's still, infuriatingly and unfortunately, a huge problem that the LQBTQ* community deals with. So I'm here to talk about stereotypes which is something I'm quite good at so yay.
There is this weird attitude towards the gay population. It's like people pick and choose from the different types of sexual orientations which ones they want to support.
"well yeah I support gays, but being Bi is just stupid! Why don't they pick one or the other!" or
"I don't think two dudes is right, but yeah, I love lesbians". Ummmmmmmm excuse me. No, Honey. It doesn't work like that. You can't just pick and choose what you like and don't like. This isn't an Icecream shop where you can get the flavors you like and ignore the one's you don't. It's a cone with every flavor or no ice cream at all (BAM. ice cream analogies always get people attention). Men tend to "love" the lesbians, and women tend to "love" the gay guys. There is this fascination held among the male population with lesbians (I'm sure you've all noticed). It's the porn industry, and the fact that, well, two women means double all the good bits and peices women have already. It's fine for two women to being seen in public kissing. it's "hot". Seriously, it's sickeningly misogynic that men "support" lesbians because of purely sexual reasons. But two men? suddenly it's inappropriate. And with women- highschool girls all want to be hags, and have a gay shopping buddy that they can gossip with and watch Sex in the City with. Can people just stop expecting gay guys to be these fabulous little fashion gurus, who make bold fashion choices, and are miraculously all makeup professionals? I unfortunately cannot speak from the perspective of a gay guy, but I'm sure that some of the gay dudes aren't like the ones depicted in the ABC family TV shows, with frosted blonde tips and immaculate cuticles. Or, you know, Bruno.
There's this confusion in our society regarding the fact that LGBTQ* people are no different in variety of actions and personalities than "regular", Straight people.
Now regarding Lesbians. Why, oh why, is there such a negative image associated with lesbians? This image of the manly, short-haired woman who wears teeshirts and hates dresses is what society has depicted the lady-lovers as. Why is it that as soon as a woman is not all "feminine", dressed in bright summer dresses and picking flowers and wearing cute eyeshadow and being pleasing to men she is automatically gay? And why is it that only women who don't fit the "feminine" standard are used as the typical lesbian image? Sure, there are more "butch" lesbians, but there are also effeminate ones too. It feels so stupid writing this, because I feel like I'm just stating the obvious, but evidently not, because people still hold these stereotypical images of what they think gay or lesbian or bi or anything-besides-straight people look like. UGHH just stop it people.
And um, why does it even matter. Why does society have to characterize the LGBTQ* community as looking significantly different from "normal" people? Probably so that it's easier to label people. If someone looks like that instead of this, then they must be gay. Or lesbian. or whatever! Society had created these... what's the word I'm looking for? False... Hyperbolized... Generalized... insulting... images of what queer people act and look like so that it's easier for people to make judgements and assumptions.
But why do people care so much. Why does who a guy loves or a girl sleeps with really matter to you? It's not like people being gay is going to somehow negatively effect the earth. Population isn't going to decline because suddenly everyone's gay and babies aren't being made (gay couples can actually have kids. Shocker, I know). Ok, so your religion says that it was Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve or whatever. Ok. Cool. So... how about instead of coming and making other people's sexual preferences your personal business, you leave it alone and live your life, free of rainbows, and butterflies, and unicorns, and all those things that come with gay people. The people that are so madly against gay marriages, and picket and protest and throw tantrums are the very same people that wouldn't even notice if gay marriage was legal! Do you really think that if gay marriage was legal, the homophobic couple would be affected? Would their lives become bleak and unbearable because two people who love each other are getting married like every other hetero couple? Yeah, I don't think so. If you don't support gay marriage, then please, stop picketing, go home and live your life. Who are you to stop two people from loving each other? From stopping them from being able to adopt a child that they will love and raise and nurture with the love of any other family. From stopping them from being able to save their loved one's life because the insurance companies don't except same-sex-couple as a relationship for paying someone's hospital bill. Literally, please stop. I'm asking so nicely. picketing won't help. Yelling won't help. Hating won't help. Nation-wide equality for the LGBTQ* population is inevitable, so You're just going to piss off me and other, innocent people. And trust me, You don't want to piss off an angsty, teenage, feminist blogger.
So what I hope you got from this post, which was all over the place, was that you don't have to talk with your hands to be gay, or have your wallet on a chain and wear basketball shorts to be a lesbian. Sexual preferences aren't ice cream flavors. Picketing is pointless. Gay people won't lead to a sudden population decline.
Can we all just be Gay-Ok? Thanks, kids.
And as much as I'd absolutely love to stay and keep writing, I kinda have something called "school" which I must legally attend. Like jury duty, but not really. Except for the part about legal obligation. So I'm gonna catch some shut-eye, because being a blogger kinda tends to drain all the energy and sleep out of you. I hope all you lovely things had a good MLK day and
No dissin' Same-sex Kissin', Ok?
Ok. Goodnight, and goodbye as I receed back into my feminist lair.
-Panteha
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