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March 14, 2006
GLBTs should give back 'the finger'
Oh, do the little straight kids not like us? What are we going to do now? I’m already shaking in my steel-toed gads! If there were one thing that me as a homo has been worried about, it is whether or not conservative straight people find who I knock boots with acceptable. Please, please, please don’t write anything else mean! I just don’t know what I’ll do if I have to read yet another graffitied slur, and that’s not just because of the physically painful grammar! It’s because you don’t like me!
Hamline’s recent scourge of what we sanitize as “incidents of graffiti targeted at the GLBT community” is just what we here at Hamline are surprisingly rife with: idiotic bigots who, while they may hold very valid and personal reasons for disagreeing with homosexuality, feel a need to spew garbage on the homes of their attempted victims.
As a member of the alternative sexualities, I’ve always had to deal with this crap just as long as anyone else with the balls to come out has. With this history of “tolerance,” I’ve developed a few strategies I’d like to impart. A forewarning, though: my suggestions are just that, and by no means the only or even a right way to deal with any hardship slapped at you by being a targeted group.
First off, people who shout generalized slurs at strangers don’t have anything you should feel bad that you don’t have. The next time someone calls you a fag, dyke or any other dig, reclaim the word and spit it back at them. Try zoning in on things like their poor sense of humor and “in-the-box” thinking.
Second, think about why these words were meant to offendč you’re supposed to be ashamed of whatever they’re accusing you of. Are you? You shouldn’t be, not any more than they should be ashamed of being straight.
Third, and this is the hard one that will take a while to achieve, start letting it not affect you. There are always going to be people who hate you for superficial reasons out of your control. Help them realize there are far better reasons to hate you, like your knowledge of the psychological theory that homophobes are repressing their own airy-in-the-loafers qualities, or the fact that in 20 years you’ll be leading a fulfilling, happy life while they’re crying in the shower asking “why?”
Keep in mind, however, that just because someone disagrees with who you sleep with (while having quizzical interests) doesn’t make them a homophobe. Toughening up is suggested for the special few who decided they’ve got nothing better to do than write irksome-at-best, truly thought-provoking discourse as “Fags are Gay” on bathroom stalls.
These suggestions extend beyond the GLB/TTT/IQA groups, too. Racism, sexism, and any other -ism can easily be conquered when it just doesn’t affect you. Don’t let it, and eventually they’ll stop doing it. And go back to pig wrestling.
Posted by dwright at March 14, 2006 08:33 PM
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