Re: homophobia
Lagusta Pauline Yearwood (ly001f@uhura.cc.rochester.edu)
Sat, 06 Dec 1997 11:30:06 -0500 (EST)
Ok, ok, only one more from me on this tangent.
Malcolm wrote:
> I understand your point, yet I don't see it as (forgive me if I'm
> misinterpreting you) someone trying to establish any "distance" from whomever
> they're defending. I rather see it as kind of noble. Ala: "I defend
> homosexuals, regardless of my sexual preference, yet if you need to know: I
> am straight. So I don't "need" to defend them." Substitute race, creed,
> color, whatever. And the more "straights" that are vocal about their
> defending homosexuals, the more homosexuality won't need to be defended
> further on down the road.
I see your point. And Jim's about how saying it shows objectivity.
I think it's definitely a multi-faceted issue; on one hand it does show
objectivity and that there are straight people who recognise that
homophobia needs to be faught against. I can conpletely see why people do
it, and that it has merits.
On the other hand...well, first of all: I don't
think it's noble for straight people to fight against homophobia. I belong
to the "everything is connected," "no one is free when others are
oppressed" school of thought, and i think it's just one more evil everyone
*needs* to fight against. I know you put "need" in quotes to show that you
basically agree with me, that there *is* a need for people to fight
against homophobia, but i think it's everyone's *duty*. Kind of like
fighting against slavery was everyone's duty. It's just a personal belief.
The other thing is much more flame-inducing. While repeating that i
definately see why people say "...but I'm straight" when defending
homosexual rights, i think when we become a truly advanced society, we
won't feel that we need to make that distinction. When we really
let people express their sexuality freely, we won't need to be so
careful about the boundaries between "straight" and "gay."
I was discussing this with a friend, and he said: "If people need to
label themselves and differentiate themselves in order to defend other's
rights, are they really defending them? Or are they part of the problem
because they feel that they need to make that distinction so clear and
inply inferiority?"
AGAIN, (I know there are a lot of sensitive people on
this list -- me, included!) I just want to stress for the 40,000
time that I'm not calling people homophobic, I'm just trying to get people
to think about things differently.
Well, I always get so angry when people write so long about things
completely urelated, so forgive me, Saligner purists!
lagusta