I recently had someone ask why I participate in blog hops like this? This, being the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.
The question was probably not meant to be as revolting as I took it. But to me, the undertone had more to do with a secret phobia of ‘the gay agenda’ than it did with anything I post on this blog. That it came from someone who I thought of as a close personal friend bothered me even more.
So why do I do this? Better yet, why do I fill my timelines with LGBT news of suicides and murders and beatings? Why not just talk about books and cats and those funny gay YouTubers who shit rainbows and never have a bad day. They can just shave their forty-year-old chest and say “We’re all queer and happy here!” and everything is okay.
Well, we’re not all happy. And we’re not all safe. And we don’t all get the happy-ever-after ending we deserve. Despite what the gay media loves to portray, a vast majority of LGBT live below poverty level, LGBT youth homelessness is at an all-time high, and attacks on LGBT people around the globe are increasing.
It’s easy for people to insulate themselves from this reality, even in this day and age. I cannot count the number of times I’ve talked to another gay man who has no interest in aiding the LGBT community, especially if it doesn’t benefit him personally. The irony in those conversations is that those men are often the very same people screeching Homophobia! after they get their ass tore up on a local street-corner. Then they wonder why no one is listening.
Am I an angry old queen? Maybe. But maybe I’m just damned tired of indifference and platitudes, especially from within our own community. You are either part of the solution or you’re sucking the life out of it. Equality means a lot more than marriage. It also requires a lot more than fleeting social media outrage. It takes time, effort and involvement.
Even if you only make a difference in one LGBT person’s life, that’s still making a real difference.
Sorry for the rant amongst all these positive posts, but that’s why I do this and will continue to do it. Silence equal consent.
B. Shire.
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