Thanks but no Thanks

Thanks but no thanks. I am all about being politically correct, kosher at all times and showing compassion and understanding for everybody. But every time some wackjob submits a letter to the editor of our local college newspaper about how wrong gay people are, I do not need 10 people to tell me about it.

This last week, my college paper published a story about this panel that happened with gay people discussing what it is like to be out of the closet at work. Then, somebody submitted a letter to the editor of the newspaper about the article. They were saying all sorts of things about how gay people seem to wear their sexuality on their sleeve and that is all they think about. Although I have addressed this issue in past blog posts, this is not the point of this post. After this letter to the editor was published in the "Free Speech Friday" segment of the paper, I had a few friends text me and ask me if I had read the article, telling me how they though it was bigoted and asking me what I think.

I appreciate the concern, but I do not need people to tell me every time some bigot opens their mouth and says hurtful things. If I want to read about bigoted people, I can find them on my own. My friends are concerned about me, but I am, not that weak. It almost seems like they think that after I read these articles, I will curl up into a ball and cry. No. I want people to see me as the strong person I am who is not affected by crap like this. It is like telling your friend of african descent about the KKK every time they burn a cross on the lawn of an African American family.

To me, this addresses the current state of the queer civil rights movement. African Americans now have the same rights as everybody else which means they have the same protections as everybody else. If somebody were to write an article similar to those about the queer rights movement now, there would be enforceable legal implications against those people. But now, even with expanded civil rights laws, the rights of queer people are still unclear.

I appreciate the thought. But I know that my friends accept me and cherish me. I just do not understand how some of them feel like they need to alert me every time some bigot opens their mouth. I can take care of myself. I know that there is hatred out there. If I want to find it, I am capable of doing that myself.

Please stay tuned for more stories of this average life.