Homosexuality

I was doing this assignment for my Social Work class a little earlier. There was an exercise asking how we felt when we come in contact with or say other people who were "different." The assignment specifically asked about elderly people in wheelchairs, people with developmental and mental diseases or impairments, and lastly same sex couples. I thought it interesting that same sex couples was one of their choices. I mean, yes we all know that homosexuality is a much argued topic, it was just interesting to me that they saved it for last; why not put is first?

What do I think when I see two people of the same sex walking down the street. I don't think much other than lucky for them, at least they have someone. For me to look at them and turn my nose up at them would be me being a hypocrite. For just a year or two ago I was that couple. I was walking down the street with my girlfriend. Who am I to judge? That is the question that I ask myself when I see things that are out of the "norm" which I am still searching for a definition of.

When I see same-sex couples walking down the street the first thought that comes to mind is, "I hope they're happy." That's it. I hope that these two people are happy together with each other because it sucks being in a relationship with someone you aren't happy with or who isn't happy with you for that matter.

In certain places my thoughts are different though. For example, I used to live in NYC and that's where one of the largest LGBT communities resides. In NYC people are used to seeing LGBT couples. More LGBT youth feel freer expressing themselves in a big city like NY. I would even go as far as to say that in some areas of the city, like the East Village for example, which is where most of the LGBT community hangs out, it has become a bit of the norm. In the East Village gay flags hang high and proud in store fronts and fire escapes.

In places like the Caribbean where I now reside the LGBT community is shunned and frowned upon. In some cases they are assaulted, raped, or even murdered. Here it is encouraged that they keep to themselves. Members of the LGBT community are seen as a disease and those persons murdering members of that community here, and anywhere else for that matter, see themselves as curing the world of this so-called disease. In the Caribbean people would rather encourage a young adult to date and older man than they would her with another female. Gay men are the furthest thing from tolerated in the Caribbean. A lot of the men in the Caribbean are raised to be workers, to be strong, hard-working, and plain out masculine, therefore the thought of a feminine male is seen as weak and as an insult to them. They view gay men as punks.

One thing that I have come to realize is the role that sexism plays in hate crimes against the LGBT community as well as in acceptance and tolerance. A person who is anti-homosexuals can tolerate seeing two females being together rather than two males being together. Why is this? Well I feel that it has to do with the way the media has portrayed women and their sexuality. The media defines women as soft, sensual, and sexy. They show sex scenes in movies with women rubbing and kissing on each other creating an arousal for men. It's taboo, but it's sexy, and it arouses sexual pleasure in a man. Now these same men that are anti-lesbianism are some of the same men who go home and watch porn and other shows where females are having sex with other females as well as males or even just the females having sex. Now, doesn't this make them a lesbian as well or is it because it's happening on television and it "isn't real" what makes it OKAY? Well, I’ve got news them, those are real people doing real things. It doesn’t get much realer than that.

Males feel as though when they see two males together holding hands that they are weak and that they are sorry excuse for men. What the hell is the definition of a real man? Half of these self-proclaimed real men don't even take care of their responsibilities at home or elsewhere, but want to view it as their obligation as a man to pass judgment on another man's choice of how to live his life. These same men passing judgment sometimes don't even lead lives close to these men that they are judging. They don't understand the struggle that these two men have gone through. They don't stop to think about how many times they have come encounter with men just like him who stop and judge them, who hate them without even knowing them for being with someone who loves them because of who they are inside and not because of what society thinks of them.

Society and everyone in it needs to stop and take a look around at all these different people in the world. They need to stop and realize that you can't go around crucifying every member of the LGBT community. It will never end. They need to realize that yes, their religious or personal beliefs may not support the way the LGBT community decides to live their lives, but it is their decision to make. It is no one's right to judge a man or woman based on the way he chooses to live his life. The Bible says, "Let he without sin cast the first stone" and I have yet to meet a person who has never sinned. The creator is the only one who can judge his creations and when the time comes everyone will stand before him and his son on judgment day. Then and only then will ANYONE be judged.