Thread: Gay Rights? What About Straight Rights?

Here's an opinion piece I wrote. My question is does it convey my viewpoint without offending others. I know some people will not agree, but we are entitled to freedom of speech. What do you think?

Why is it that gay rights activists are so quick to jump on every little thing in society that offends them? The irony is that while they are so busy fighting for inclusion and “equality,” they are imposing their views on those with a heterosexual perspective. My pre-teen daughter has been constantly bombarded with overt displays of homosexuality for years. It distresses me because I do not wish for her to believe that “gay is the way.”

Everyone has the right to believe what they wish. Who am I to judge whether homosexuals were born with their orientation or not? Throughout my academic and professional careers I have interacted with homosexuals; however, to me they were just people. I wasn’t stuck on their sexuality; just like I would hope when someone sees me they look beyond the color of my skin. I could care less about what they do in their daily lives until their way of life INVADES mine. I censor what my daughter watches on television and what music she listens to. I don’t allow her to watch booty shaking music videos or movies with explicit content like cursing, nudity, or sexuality. When I buy hip-hop CDs for myself, I get the edited, “clean” versions from Wal-mart. Yet, I cannot even watch network shows with my daughter without trying to downplay why two women are on the screen kissing each other or a man is dressed in drag (i.e., “America’s Next Top Model”). Or worse, your child asks you to go over a friend’s house and you agree because she says her friend’s mom will be watching them and you have met the mom on many, many occasions, only to find out later that it was the “other” mom you have never met.

It’s a fact of life that there are minorities and sub-cultures in a dominant mainstream society. I’m an African American, but have chosen to instill diversity and multiculturalism in my child because that is a true reflection of the world; not bigotry to support my pro-blackness. Her connection with her ancestry and heritage is up to me. I don’t expect society to teach her how special she is. I’m a Christian; however, I believe in religious freedom and don’t think that one’s views or beliefs should be imposed on another because I would hate for someone to tell me that I couldn’t believe in Jesus. So I say, gay rights? What about straight rights?

Straight rights can get the job done and buy you some space if you've got the pecs for it, but the real finishers are left hooks.

Christians don't have any rights. I'm surprised you aren't aware of that.

lin's first post made me laugh.

And most of what you talked about was cencoring stuff on television; you hardly even touched the topic of homosexuality. And I don't see how homosexuality invades anyone's life; at most it'll just bump into it. You trying to keep your children from learning that these things exist will be a cripple in their knowledge, imo.

And yes, I personally think you will offend others. Straights have enough rights, imo, and I'm straight myelf. Also you must keep in mind that the subject of sexuality, religion, abortion, etc. will always, always offend at least one person.

Thanks for your opinion. I did ponder if I strayed off topic . . . and yes, Lin's comment was funny.

Seriously, though, there is pretty much no way you can handle this topic in such a way as not to tick people off. It's highly charged and there are a lot of crusaders. I'm surprised you've gotten this far without flames even on this pretty easy-going site.

If you don't mind a suggestion, what about dropping the gay angle and going straight to what is closer to your central irritation--that it's bad to defame any religion...except Christianity. Research some quotes and ask the question, why is okay to defame Christians but not Jews or Moslems or animists or whatever?

Good luck

Did you ever think that perhaps homosexuals feel the same way about others pushing their heterosexuality on them? It's not a good feeling watching television and seeing glamorized heterosexual relationships and then going to school and hear everything described as "gay".

I don't want the crucifix glorified on my television screen. I don't necessarily like it when references are made to the bible to back points in the news. Hell, I'd like to live in a neighborhood free of churches... but that's not going to happen, is it? Because that's perceived as an inequality.

So why should gays be censored?

You assume quite a lot with this article. Not saying it's bad... just inaccurate. You describe the gay community based on how the radicals are. I feel just how you would feel offended if I described Christianity based entirely on Fred Phelps.

I agree that the current depictions of homosexuals should be removed from television, and replaced with a truer depiction. Often, it is passed off as a token gag; a joke. But it doesn't convey just what being gay entails.

I'm not offended. I deal with bias and ignorance every day. But perhaps you should rethink your thoughts on the subject if you expect to be able to put your beliefs to the forefront and not share.

Shawn, maybe you can comment on this.

Gays say they are equal to straights.

Straights don’t go around getting in everyone’s face and saying “I’m straight.”

Gays demonstrate un-equal behaviour by getting in everyone’s face and saying “I’m gay.”

Huh?

Maybe because our society is already built to assume everyone is straight.

How do you think gays would manage to get themselves recognized if they sat passively by on the sidelines?

Being passive gets nothing done, but being aggressive casts a negative light on the whole culture. I'm telling you, being a bisexual agnostic is the way to go.

How many gay people are there?

there are 105.5 million households in the USA.
5.5 million of these consist of unmarried partnerships,
of these, 595,000 consist of same sex partners.

Making allowances for those who are homosexual and not living with anyone, and those who are 'still in the closet', that's a lot of noise from a very small group of people.

To me, it seems that in order to undermine the voices of a handful of raging zealots, you need an overabundance of calm, rational people to counteract it. The numbers in the homosexual community just don't balance out yet. Possibly why it's so difficult.

It's awfully hard to be "calm and rational" when you're viewed as a second-rate citizen and change is being resisted from all quarters.

Think W.E.B. Dubois.

But the gays rights movement isn't even that extreme. It's just a bunch of people who are homophobic—whether they admit it or not—who think their rights are being infringed upon when they have to actually acknowledge gays' existence outside of their bedroom.

No argument there, thought I do think the whole situation is a chinese-finger trap. The more the gay community speaks out, the more indignant the political homophobes become, and vise-versa. Where haven't we seen that before.

But the gays rights movement isn't even that extreme.

It is in some places. Apparently public Bukkake parties snuck on the boat with Kung-Fu and live squid. I'm not saying it's a pandemic, but it is a recognized political statement in some circles. Don't care to post a link on that though. I'm at work for chrissakes.

Eh, I don't think Bukkake is so much a "gay" thing as it is a "fucked up fetish" thing...

In the south, we call it Mardi Gras. It's refreshing to find a modern liberal act you find distasteful, though.

As to the OT, OP, I think understand your mindset. You're a worried parent trying to raise a child in an increasingly liberal and exploratory time. I'm sure that's scary as all get-out. Some would tell you not to censor your child, but I don't completely agree with that. I don't think 13 year old girls need to hear how Slim Shady wants to 'slam that ho' and then 'slice her up'.

The important thing is to introduce her to the things that will be important and relevant in her life, and phase out the things that will corrupt a young mind.