I’ve been on Twitter for almost two years now, tweeting away about LGBT Youth, books, music, and all manner of things generally LGBTQ related. When the news about the new site that tracks the use of homophobic slurs hit the Twittersphere this week I had already seen it (and tweeted about it) before it became a huge news item on the LGBT circuit. I watched as many of the major LGBT blogs/feeds spoke about how depressed, saddened, and disturbed they were. I also noted how more than a few people repeated that sentiment on their own feeds, some of them had just a few friends and followers, and some had thousands.
What did the big news sites fail to report?
There is, and has been, just as much lgbtq-positive and anti-homophobic sentiment on twitter as there is homophobia. (See feed below.)
I have tracked homophobia since I started using twitter because it plays such a big part in my writing and because I think it important to battle against for the future of all LGBTQ.
The environment that many of us older LGBTQ were raised in is not the environment that I would like to see today’s youth come in to. Homophobia will never go away, just like any other hate induce mindset, it will continue to travel down generations or rise again when the voices of fear-mongers become louder than our own.
Yet, in the end, it will not be a shouting match that wins the battle, but an upright dignity that will not bow down against ignorance. You don’t have to be a LGBTQ warrior in this battle, you just have to move forward with the innate understanding that you are not less than anyone else.
*Kudos to Dr. Kristopher Wells of iSMSS for creating NoHomophobes and for strengthening the voice and the dignity of LGBTQ people everywhere, and for displaying how far we still have to go.
Tweets about “homophobia”
(click “All” on search on Twitter for better results)