Last week, I was searching the New York Times website and I saw an article called Coming Out in Middle School . I read the first page of this article, but I didn't have to read the whole thing to understand that it addressed the hardships of gay teenagers who expressed their sexuality. But when I thought about how these teens often weren't accepted for who they were, it made me sad. In society, there are many people who do not support gay rights. They judge gay men and women based on one trait-- a single trait that dominates over the rest because it is different. Because of this judgement, gay men and women are not always treated as equals.
In a way, this is a direct parallel to the way blacks were treated in America following the Civil Rights Movement. Legally, they had equal rights, but that doesn't mean that all people accepted them to be equals in society. Many of them were still outcasted for the color of their skin, a single different trait that somehow made them less-than in society.
The acceptance of African Americans and gay men and women in society is similar. Will this unbalance in society evolve with humans and continually exist in America? Or is there a way to stop it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I definitely see the parrallels you wrote about in your blog post. I think broadly, society always has to choose a group to "outcast". We see this in racism where people are outcasted for their skin color, in cases of sexuality, where people are outcasted for their sexual preference, and even in less extreme cases where people are outcasted for not having a certain amout of money, etc.
Recently, I was reading a book called The Help, and it takes place in Mississipi in the 1960s. Even then, after the civil war, the black women in this town are completely looked down upon. A white women who employs the use of a black maid builds her a separate bathroom and makes her bring her own silverware and cup to work. Now, in this day and age, we have definitely evolved as a society in being more accepting towards people of different races, and hopefully we will continue to become more accepting of gay women and men through education.
Post a Comment