Thursday, April 30, 2009

Should People Who Discriminate Against Gay People Be Made Public?

The world is full of different people with different beliefs. What makes a society great is how well we manage to get along with each others and be productive. Just as Earth continues to spin and rotate around the Sun, never stopping to take a break on the 7th day, society continues to move and progress to new levels of thought and environment. As humans we are, or should be striving to become more knowledgeable and advanced in our decision making. It should not be the goal of a society to remain at a stand still point indefinitely.

Throughout history, civilizations have had to change their way of thinking and actions to adapt to the current realities of their time, either for acceptance or basic survival. This is a never ending truth. The gift of life was never designed to allow some people to become statues stuck in one place throughout time, or worst hoping to time travel back to a life that is long gone. This only happens in movies. We are where we are because we are suppose to be here. Even if you refused to move forward in life, that would not change your environment and reality. Your world around you would continue to change and you would eventually get old and die.

With that said, why do so many people continue to remain stuck in their reality and beliefs without even trying to think outside the box? Your reality is what you make of it, and your beliefs will not change unless you make the effort to learn something new. The problem with many discontent people is that they try too hard to change others without taking a good look in the mirror. Everyone has issues that are less than positive, but to live life thinking (or acting like) you are superior to others for self-esteem purposes or whatever excuse (family, religion, etc) is where true dysfunction thrives.

If you do not agree with homosexuality, that is fine with me. Just let me know and I will choose not to associate with you. I have a right not to be friends or converse with people that may not be beneficial to my reality. I have that choice, and so does the other person. But to be the type of person that chooses to mind other people’s business and try to stop their pursuit of happiness is a different type of person. This is the type of person that either lacks self-esteem, or is a narcissist that is only concerned with their feelings and lacks empathy for others. Either way, these are not the type of people we want making decisions for others in a productive, advancing civilization.

So if these type of people decide they want to make personal decisions for other people that have absolutely nothing to do with them, do they deserve the right to privacy? If someone says to you either directly or indirectly through a protest, ballot initiative, or a vote that he or she wants to decide what you do to your own body and how you chose to live your life, should that person at least be willing to identify himself? If that person feels they have the right to tell other people how to live or what they should believe in, should not that person at least have the confidence to publicly stand up for what they believe. They are in fact attempting to force their beliefs on others, and NOT the other way around.

KnowThyNeighbor.org has posted the names of thousands of Arkansas citizens who signed the anti-gay adoption and foster care petition in 2008. I wonder if, ironically, these are the same people who disagree with abortion. I am assuming that these petitioners are not waiting in line to adopt all these children with no home. Therefore, I guess it would be fair to say that these bigoted people would rather these kids grow up without a family than to be a part of a loving, supportive gay household. What great morals these people have, huh?

The group behind the amendment wants the Arkansas Legislature to pass a law to prohibit the release of the petitioners’ “personal information”. KnowThyNeighbor.org has previously posted online the names of hundreds of thousands anti-gay petition signers in Massachusetts and Florida. Tom Lang, the director behind the Massachusetts based organization says “This is about responsibility and dialogue. These petition signers need to stand behind their signatures and be responsible for this dehumanizing attack on the gay community. It’s disgraceful that they have chosen to exercise their prejudice at the expense of children…”

So should people who discriminate against gay people be made public? Well, that’s for you to decide. But, I’m willing to bet that if they were, there would be far less people signing petitions.

I wish you strength and enlightenment.

:) The Gay Mentor

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