With the battle for marriage equality still raging on, I got to thinking about whether there will ever be a time when there is total acceptance. Will there ever be a day when we see an end to homophobia, racism, sexism and all the other isms?
I’ll be honest, I am not convinced there will be. Perhaps it is a sad and harsh reality of the human condition that there is always going to be someone out there that doesn’t just dislike what others do or what others are but hates it so much that they will go to the nastiest lengths to stop it. Looking back over the history of the LGBT community, we have weathered many a storm. Whether it be the fact that being homosexual was illegal, or the homophobic bullying as a child, the ‘gay-bashing’, the introduction of anti-LGBT legislation or even as part of the holocaust. Despite all of that hatred and violence over the years, there are still out and proud people nearly everywhere. Unfortunately, some countries are a little slow on the uptake. Considering that level of hatred and violence, LGBT people in the UK have continued fighting against persecution when they could have just as easily slipped back into the closet, conformed to what society expected and lived a very unhappy life. But they didn’t. Many others around the world simply can't.
What I am trying to say is that, despite all the anti-gay behaviour, gay people still exist. Well, of course, they do I hear you say. They are a part of the world. The haters can call us names, beat us, prevent us from being equal and heck even try to exterminate us but would it make a difference. Would it actually stop gay people from existing? The suggestion is completely ridiculous because it simply wouldn’t. There is always going to be that, ‘someday somewhere’ (yep, another cheeky – and rather camp - song reference there) where someone prefers the love, companionship and sexual pleasure from someone of the same sex. It is simply the way of the world. We don’t understand how or why, but that is the way it is. Just the same as the sun in the sky, homosexuals WILL exist. Granted, given enough power, opponents could force us into hiding through fear, but would that stop homosexuality from existing? Nope. So why the opponents still fight so hard is totally beyond me. To me, they are fighting a totally lost cause for that reason. Deny us as many rights as you like or introduce new laws to give us less legal rights, we aren’t going anywhere.
Although, in the same breath, we as homosexuals have got to do our fair share of accepting here too! We are never going to remove all hatred towards us. We are never going to stop the fact that some people don’t understand homosexuality. Some people are nauseated by the thought of two men sleeping together, or being in love with one another and do you know what; I am cool with that. I can get over it. I daresay some will find that a little shocking considering the fact I am someone who is reasonably active in speaking up for equality and LGBT rights. But my thinking is that I don’t really care what people think about me providing it is just that. As long as they are not trying to hurt me or diminish my rights or those of my community, nor trying to rally others to agree with their hate, then their hate doesn’t actually affect me, does it? So I am happy to let them continue living their hate-filled lives. Heck, I hate peas so does that mean that I have to rally everyone to also hate them and segregate any person who does like them? Again, the notion is just simply ridiculous. No matter how hard I try, there is no way I can eradicate another person’s taste for peas. Sure I could make it really uncomfortable for those people if I were given enough power, but no matter how much power I might have, I cannot totally remove that part of the human condition that means they like peas with their pie; especially mushy ones because they are just vile! I just simply choose not to have them on my dinner plate.
And therein lays my point. We have to learn and accept that we cannot and will not be able to entirely eradicate at least some small portion of dislike. All we can do is ask that their dislike doesn’t affect our lives. Just because they don’t like the idea of homosexuality and they refuse to accept it, it by no means, gives them any right to try and change it. I have a sneaking suspicion that if we all managed to accept that fact of life we would all probably get along just that little bit better.
Anyways, I am going to sign off now as I have a pie in the oven. Yup, I am having pie for dinner, sans the peas…
I never could trust anyone who liked peas…
(PS. That last line is in jest… not the part about having pie… the other bit)
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