Friday, October 1, 2010

We haven't come as far as we'd like to think.

I debated blogging this.  I figured every other LGBT-related site probably already did, and probably would do a better job than I could.  But then, I decided that the story needs to be told as far and wide as possible, and if even one person finds out from this blog, then I'll have helped.  The full story is here.  In a nutshell, a wonderfully gifted young Rutgers freshman was recorded during intimate relations with another man.  The person doing the recording, his apparently homophobic roommate, not only recorded it, but put it online for others to access.  Upon finding out, the gay freshman jumped off a bridge and died.  As a parent of kids slightly older than that, heck, as a human being, I find this kind of thing so discouraging in its callousness, and even more so because that comes from the "us" versus "them" mentality that is being cultivated in our country now.  Please help stop this any way you can.  Don't let someone make disparaging remarks, even in joking, about someone else's race, gender, social status, or sexual orientation.  Treat everyone as deserving of your respect (well, unless they are rapists or killers or otherwise actually harmed another individual).

I thought society was getting more open-minded and finally recognizing that human is human, but lately I am becoming more certain that such an ideal is still a very long time from fruition.

Maybe there is hope. Here's a lovely message from some happy LGBT adults to those young folks out there who are still unsure of themselves, lost and lonely, helpless or hopeless. It can get better.

No comments:

Post a Comment