Homophobia, part 3

2004-03-10 - 8:41 a.m.

I'm in a great mood this morning! Great in the closest sense to the original meaning...in that I'm feeling bigger, somehow, like everything is expanded, all in a good way. I want to reach out and hug the world (in my "don't-touch-me-I-hate-people" kind of way). I'm in an expansively good mood. I hope it lasts through the day, 'cause there's nothing worse than coming down from being happy.

For anyone wondering what I've done about the homophobia on the website, I did out myself in a post, mainly responding to a guy who said he didn't think gays had ever been discriminated against unfairly. I pointed out the ways that gay people have been discriminated against, past and present, and then said something along the lines about my not using the gym as a place to pick up guys, that I watch powerlifting sports for the competition and good sportsmanship (which is true: I watch powerlifting sports when they're on TV, and would love to one day compete, even though I can barely lift a feather right now. Of course, I also watch powerlifting because some of the guys are frickin' hot...I didn't get into that part on the forum). By the time I'd posted, though, the thread had ceased to be solely focused on gay bashing and had become an all-out debate, which meant that I felt I had some allies or support, so it wasn't very courageous.

I just kind of wish that, just once, the best way to fight homophobia would be to stay quiet and do nothing.

Which is exactly what I'm doing so far in class. Last week the teacher edged into offensivity due to carelessness, and I'm letting it slide, though Pookie thinks I should have spoken up. Basically the teacher was criticising an old boss he'd had, and as a part of the criticism he said something like "He was really paranoid, and not very nice, and sometimes I wondered about his sexuality." And I guess it's not that big of a comment, but those are the sort of moments where I feel like someone's just turned a giant klieg spotlight on me.

I'm aware that it's low to whine about this sort of thing...it's clear that the right thing to do is to speak up, as soon as possible (in this case, either during the break or immediately after class when I won't derail the lecture), and address these sort of situations. In the case of my teacher, I'm pretty sure that there was no harm meant, and that there's no real threat of him retaliating. If it happens again, I will address it...I just hate being in that situation. The five year old in me starts stomping his feet and crying "I don't WANNA!" Gee, I sure have it tough, don't I?

Anyway, time to do some work...

Cheers,

The Magus

previous - next