So last night I was on tumblr and facebook at the same time and I noticed that one of my bestest friends Hannah (aka starkidhannah.tumblr.com) had linked me to something on facebook in my ask, so I clicked on the link as whatever Hannah posts in my ask always gets a laugh and I was in the mood for a chuckle. Anyway I clicked on the link and I was horrified at what I saw. A person I so I got mad, so much so I was shaking uncontrollably and proceeded to delete them from facebook, I didn’t want that sort of filth in my friends list. But this didn’t seem to be enough, it didn’t seem right that they could be so openly homophobic and get away with it. So I wall posted Hannah with the link to the same petition and said ~~sarcastically~~ “fucken hate fags.” Then Hannah and I had a bit of an obviously hyperbolic exchange about how much we hate gays, but then clarified that we love gay people (because lets face it we’re amazing). THEN one of the horrible people from before liked our comments and commented saying “it’s adam and eve not adam and steve.” I had never thought anyone in my year was legitimately homophobic until this point, I always kind of retained faith that it was all kind of a macho act but deep down they weren’t really like that, I mean how could someone legitimately hate someone because of a lifestyle choice they didn’t choose? So at this I got extremely mad because these sort of jokes are things myself and the entire gay community has had to withstand for an excruciatingly long time and even though I was terrified to say anything because these boys scare the shit out of me, I thought to myself “i need to say something” if not for me then for the people who have always wanted to say something. So i bitchily and sarcastically replied with But even though the comments have stopped I have to wonder, since when did mocking homophobia become okay? These jokes were really just said to cover the fact that they are legitimately homophobic, but if they mask it as “funny youtube quotes” then they don’t cop nearly as much of the blame. If I posted a tirade of “funny youtube quotes” saying how much I hated straight people then I would be met with so much abuse back, so why is it acceptable for them to say the same thing to me? Homophobia as a topic has lost all the force it used to have, just like racism and sexism, homophobia has blended into the background under the assumption that just because we’re in a “modern” society it doesn’t exist. Well it does, and it is just as strong as ever. Luckily I am confident enough with myself not to be deeply hurt from this, but I am scared for the people who aren’t so confident with their sexuality and are still finding themselves, why would they want to come out into a society that shoves a sock in their mouth and pushes them straight back into the cupboard? am was friends with on facebook had wall posted this other person with a link to a petition for gay marriage and said “you attending mate?” and the person replied with “I wouldn’t even click on the link mate..”
what the actual fuck
“GOOD ONE ___”
and they said “don’t get smart.” - like their threats actually meant something to me? like they thought they could scare me out of thinking being gay is normal.
so to this I said “don’t be homophobic”
then all of their goons got together and quoted some lines from a youtube video, all of which were extremely homophobic. They were “quoting as a joke” but I seem to have lost the memo that was sent out when homophobia became a laughing matter. So I thought to myself “the only way to make them stop is to personalise my argument” so I did. Having never made a fuss about the fact that i’m gay or really ever brought it up to people i’m not friends, outing myself of facebook was a big deal, but changes needed to be made and I was willing to make a stand for those who didn’t have the courage to say something. So I said
“ you have no idea what it’s like to be homosexual. When I discovered I was gay I was absolutely terrified that everyone would turn against me because being gay wasn’t “normal.” Being gay is made ten times more difficult by comments like these, comments that make it seem like the life you didn’t choose is invalid and inferior. So please, just keep your opinions to yourself.”
This got twelve likes from various people in my year. The tirade of offensive “jokes” stopped.
Something needs to change.
