What it feels like to have 4 Million people hate you.
Hey guys,
So if you have not guessed from my previous posts, I am gay and fairly shy/anxious regarding the issue of LGBT acceptance and equality.
So when i heard Australia was going to have a government survey on "Same Sex Marriage" i was incredibly anxious/nervous.
Nervous because i knew it would bring up a lot of hateful feelings/opinions from my friends, family and greater public in general. Opinions I may not be ready to accept or hear. I anticipated some kick back from friends and family simply because many of them dont know or choose to forget that im gay. Opting to wash over the fact and pretend I'm simply celebrant or something.
So when the topic of Gay Marriage did come up and several of my friends/family said they don't agree with it, and will be voting NO... it was incredibly painful and hurtful for me. Respecting the democratic and individual process I would simply respond "i respect your opinion" and try to move on. However on the inside I grew anxious and paranoid about how they must then feel about me personally and ultimately withdrew myself from family and friends with these opinions.
Obviously this period was an extremely tense and unhealthy time for a lot of LGBT people in Australia as they all experienced episodes like mine. What was really the icing on the cake though, was once the votes were counted and the "YES" votes had won, it was merely a silver lining. The bigger issue being that over 4 million (nearly 40%) fellow Australians don't believe me to be equal to them. I'm thrilled that Gay marriage will come into effect, but it doesn't disguise the fact that this equality is being forced onto 40% of people who don't believe i deserve to marry the person i love.
I don't know how else to feel about the issue other than, how is this equality when people still feel the way they feel. Sure gay people have stolen the right to marry. Until everyone sees us as equals and not subordinates how is it equality.
You should learn what hate is.
Doubting or refuting validity of same sex marriage does not equate hate.
I somewhat agree with @beery. He went into a lot of depth about how this vote has made him and other LGBT people feel. Considering he describes it that; One person wants the right to do something but withholds the right of others to do the exact same thing means that person thinks they are a greater being than the other person. If the word gay marriage was replaced with Black marriage then people would have no doubt agreeing that people who refuse to let black people marry are racist.
I also want to point out i am really disgusted that posters like this were used for political means. Generalizing an entire group of people as child abusers is disgusting. Again, imagine if this poster was about trying to prevent black people from being parents or something similar.
This comment has received a 100.00 % upvote from @kittybot thanks to: @fersher.
And I agree with @nethaniel about the poster you added as a sample of the homophobes speech. The people that encourages, or at least do not punish, bullying against children of homosexuals coming from their children, are the guilty, not the parents of the abused children.
After the same sex marriage approval (maybe it is a bit optimistic assuming that it will be approved, but I think it will) the majority of people that refuse will realize that their lives won't get worse because of it.
The traditional marriage will continue to exist, the sky will continue to be blue and there won't be any biblical apocalypse.
Furthermore, some people will notice the benefits. Incoming tourism will increase, weddings business will get a boost and some people will realize that not all homosexuals are promiscuous.
In Spain we had a similar situation before the approval of same-sex marriage (in that case it was approved by the Parliament without a referendum) and the acceptance has risen a lot. I think we are the most gay-friendly country worldwide, just 12 years after the law change.
nice, i love that you say "just 12 years after the law change"...
Just shows how slow Australia was to progress.
Don't be that pessimistic. The most important changes happened during the first 2 years.
I think that Australia has progressed pretty quickly given 30 years ago I knew guys that would go "poofter bashing". The Gay Mardi Gras changed a lot of people's attitudes and became a major tourist event rather than a freak show.
The saddest thing is that I lost a couple of really good friendships because they could not tell me they were gay, given the time and all, they felt it was not allowable and so opted out of the friendships. I am quite straight, never understood how a guy is attractive, but women are. Each to their own. On the flip side, I never had anything against gay people, male or female. However I found they were often lashing out at straight people on the assumption (correct or incorrect) that they would not be accepted. Which given the attitudes of the time was quite understandable, sad though it was.
Dood! Nooooooooooooo!
You did not steal it, it was democratically given to you. Stuff the 40% who voted no. I myself did not vote at all. I would not condemn anybody to marriage ;)
Seriously though, stop worrying about that 40% and remember that is the way a vote works. It is great that you were not like a lot of the Yes voters, who acted downright horribly, but seem to have taken the mature, higher ground approach of letting the sticks fall where they might. As it turns out, they fell into a bridge for you and your fellow poofters ;) (Just jks mate. Thickening up your skin.)
Seriously. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE HATERS! Haters gonna hate as the meme goes.
You got the marriage right, be happy about it. Do not worry yourself about others opinions of gay people or of you. You have only one person that matters how they feel and that is you. So feel confident, feel proud and be who you are without pretence or fear. And if you want to have a chat, drop me a line anytime. Just leave a message on whatever my latest post is and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Cheers, stay safe, stay happy and stay confident. Stay Gay.
@andyfishman
F*** gays like what the F*** Diferent sex was made so we can Marry and reproduce , but with a guy it is impossible . And it is not okay that you are gay or anyone else ( lesbianse included ) Gay people have mental diseases or some shit maybe and maybe HIV was made from Gay people usally i am open minded but being gay is not okay and i will not bother even reading this post
Probably you have HiV
not cool man... you have no right to make another human being feel that way. If you even had the humility to read his post you would see he has issues accepting his sexuality... issues due to people like you. I only hope that you mature and realize the world is not so black and white. How dare you accuse him of having HIV as well... how would you like it if I generalized an entire group of people as having a disease... this sort of hateful content does not belong on steemit.
https://i.giphy.com/media/Ob7p7lDT99cd2/giphy.webp
Just in case you wanted a reminder about the origins of life...
https://steemit.com/steemstem/@beery/the-most-astounding-fact-about-the-universe
@icespirit - This is pretty archaic thinking. And highly offensive. HIV actually came out of Africa and was probably (according to the trail) from eating bush meat - chimps and other monkeys infected with the virus. Gay people were primary victims only because of the ease of transmission through anal intercourse. That they did not know about for a long time allowed the disease to spread through gay communities world wide, however it is not restricted to them, nor is it God's punishment upon them. It is a disease and those who suffer its horrible ravages upon their body should be seen with compassion and empathy, not the putrid bile you spew forth.