Why is the LGBTQ+ identifing people constantly under fire? (NSFW)

It gives far right conservative jackaloons something to whine about. They wouldn’t be happy if you hanged them with a golden rope. If it wasn’t that it would be something else.

Because it’s not the norm and it’s also sexual. Anything not the norm is going to come under fire, but especially if it’s related to sex. To an extent I think this is somewhat hard-wired.

For some it’s a sin per the Bible. In their minds Bible > scientific evidence every time.

People would do well to mind our own business. Instead of sweating what floats a person’s stick, worry about, oh I don’t know, maybe our criminal for profit “Health care” system in this country. I’m more concerned about paying $500.00 for a goddam Tylenol and cup of water in an E.R. than I am about what Bill and Joe or Sue and Marie do in the bedroom. Get a freakin’ grip America. And a clue.

@Demosthenes Why is someone’s sex so important to someone else that is not associated with the other person? If Jill feels that she is a man why would that influence Bob a hundred miles away?

Some feel it’s just being crammed down their throats, overblown, trendy etc. Some take religious offense, others just can’t understand something they don’t experience.

People are uncomfortable with things they don’t want to understand.

Religion, power, fear, hate, money…

I have a friend that is a lesbian (which I never see her like that only as my friend) and she confides in me about how she is bullied and the little derogatory comments she has to endure. Even though she never bothers them or has anything to do with those people. I think it is so horrible what she puts up with for no reason. I just don’t understand why this is even an issue, people should be accepted for who they are. LGBTQ+ people can be the nicest most friendly people I know.

People tend to fear what they don’t understand & in many cases, people choose to NOT understand!!! Some people just want to CONTROL others & that is a way they can do it!!! For some, it is their way of proving to their friends that they are devout Christians. They forget that their friends are NOT who allows them into Heaven!!! I have seen people who fully understand that do the bullying as a way to hide their own leanings as a way to NOT come out & be bullied themselves!!!

I agree with @Jonsblond answer. I’d even say some (many?) are threatened.

I think if so much of your identity is connected a traditional, gender-normative depiction of men and women and something other than that is gaining traction in society, you’ll feel threatened and lash out.

There is a lack of understanding of how different types of people can coexist. They only feel good about themselves if they’re the dominant group. The norm.

It’s always felt very immature to me.

@LadyMarissa @cookieman I wish some people would be more open-minded. We are all human and we all have hopes and fears. Why others can’t see that simple truth and know that all of us are living beings with the same kind of feelings? Some things I see happening makes me falter in my hope for mankind. I don’t want to lose that because it is so precious.

I totally get that feeling @RayaHope but I try to remember all the horrible things throughout history that humans have survived and that, generally speaking, we are better off now than ever before. Sure, many situations are horrible, but for the short time I’m on this planet I want to try and focus on as much that is positive as possible.

And cookies.

@cookieman You know that really cheers me up a bit :) I’m told that I can be such a worry wort. lol (that sounds kinda gross) but I know they mean well. I think I want the best for my future, which must be why I worry about stuff.

Can I please have a cookie also?

@RayaHope Because people want to live in a certain kind of society, i.e. one where such things are not accepted and not normal. Treating them as normal to them feels like the degeneration of society. So it doesn’t matter if Jill lives a hundred miles away, to Bob it’s a sign that society is sick and it needs to be discouraged and stigmatized until it goes away. (Not agreeing with this perspective, but that is the perspective I have encountered before. It is becoming a less common perspective to have, but it is still very much there, especially in some states/communities).

@Demosthenes I am so glad that you don’t agree with that perspective. I know you are stating what (Bob) and others like him think, but gender identity is never “going away” and shouldn’t have to.

@Demosthenes is right!
If the society in which you live encouraged this, then you could all turn these people’s lives into hell. One person, for whom I felt only sympathy, was hated by more than 50 people. I did not defend this girl to the victorious end, but turned my attention to myself and shouted to make it clear that now they would talk to me about something else. Later, I approached her in private and expressed my condolences for the hatred of people towards her and said that she would remain the right person. She was literally hated for no reason. But if there was a reason in the general understanding, then I think I would have stayed away.
In Alabama of the past, only a few did not experience unrighteous hatred. Only a small number of people.

Part of it is they don’t know LBGT people, or they think they don’t know them. They have assumptions about what they are like.

In media we often see the more extreme and flamboyant examples in the groups, so that’s in our face, while normal, every day, average gay people, aren’t even noticed or on the radar of people who have a concern about gay people. People who are homophobic or think it would never happen in their family often have really crappy gaydar. Or, they have a clue, but function in denial.

There are some LBGTQ people who speak out about understanding that many conservative people (conservative in every way, not just politically) don’t want to see straight people doing too much public affection or sex on the screen, so they don’t want a bunch of gay kissing and sex portrayed either.

Even I am annoyed by so much sex on TV and some shows seem adamant about putting a disproportionate amount of gay affection and sex on their shows. Realize that I have been around gay and trans people since I can remember. Drag queens were in the clubs I went to as a teen, and later I worked with more than one trans woman. The nightclub I most frequented as a teenager was a gay club, but lots of straight people went too. I loved it.

I have always seen gay rights as civil rights, and always in favor of gay marriage, gay people in the military, etc.

The more gay people have come out of the closet, the more people realize they actually do know gay people and they like them. Some are even family members.

I think the still unanswered questions concerning nature vs nurture aren’t what you should hang your hat on. I absolutely get where you’re coming from, but …. if it could be shown that there is some amount of choice involved in gender or sexuality, your position would fall apart. I think the cases for sexuality and gender being a matter of birth are overstated, in defense of a political position.

I take the same position, that it shouldn’t matter how you want to live or who you want to love, or who you want to be, you should still have the same rights and respect as everyone else. However, I think it makes much more sense to argue that we have these rights innately, as part of personal freedoms to pursue happiness and have others fuck off. I fear the “they have no choice” argument starts from a very weak position of admitting fault with certain practices, and insisting that a scientific consensus absolves the fault.

Honestly, I don’t know how to deal with the issue of hate. It’s something of a cultural force that rises when politically popular to encourage, and fades when faced with its own sickening reality.

@Smashley A person can not just choose to like/feel a certain way. “Oh I think I’ll be gay today” IT DON’T WORK THAT WAY!! You are wired from conception and (I don’t know about you) but I didn’t have a choice on what I was gonna be and I really don’t think you or anyone else had that choice before they were born OR after either. See politics is a BIG problem with your thoughts on this matter…politics has nothing to do with the way you were born.

@RayaHope As much as I believe a lot of people are wired one way or the other, I also believe plenty of people are bisexual, and so their exposure or acceptance by society for same sex can influence their choice.

I’ve always thought the “born that way” argument was to combat the religious right and use their own words saying people are created by God, and God doesn’t make mistakes, but I don’t care what they think. It’s an over-focus on the sex in my opinion. Marriage is much more than sex.

Civil marriage is a legal contract between two adults, and limiting it to specific genders is wrong. If a woman who is supposedly born heterosexual (if they ever get a test to try to say people are one way or the other) decides to marry a woman later in life for companionship, I’m just fine with it. I don’t feel like she is less worthy of being in a same sex marriage because she wasn’t born gay. People should have the freedom to choose.

@JLeslie Respectfully, I hear what you are saying and I too believe that everyone should have the choice to live the way they want to live AND should not be intimidated or hindered by anyone else in any way. But to say that you were born that way just to take a jab at religion seems a bit shallow and meaningless. And YES an over-focus on sex in our society is at the least sickening.

With that being said, how you were born is not a choice. How you live your life is a choice (to some extent) but outside influences can derail your life choices. Derailment does NOT change the way I was born and wired to feel. I can’t help (nor should I have to) how I feel about another person.

I am gay and I agree with @Smashley. Acceptance/tolerance of homosexuality/LGBT should not rest on it not being a choice. Yes, I think it’s moronic when someone says “they choose to be gay!” but the morality of homosexuality doesn’t need to depend on it being something we “can’t help”. If someone did have an inclination toward both genders and decided to focus only on one, effectively “choosing” a sexual orientation, that wouldn’t suddenly make it wrong. If it were possible for me to take a pill and become straight, I would choose not to (and many homosexuals would; we’re not all the same). The point is, it doesn’t need to be innate from birth to not be vilified. Maybe it develops during puberty, maybe upbringing plays a role, maybe for some people their sexuality has changed over time. It should all be accepted. I have no idea why I’m gay and I can’t say I’m uninterested in an explanation, but I also have come to believe that it ultimately doesn’t matter.

@RayaHope – yes, politics has nothing to do with gender and sexuality, except that people’s beliefs about factual truths are often skewed by politics. “No choice” is not supported by evidence, however right it seems or however often you hear it. “It’s complicated” is the much truer answer.

For my part, I had the cultural training that at 16 the sight of men kissing made me wretch, the agency and curiosity and desire to please to make the choice of living as a gay man for my early my 20s, the unfulfilled fantasies to live as a thirsty bi slut for the late 20s, and a desire have children and find a realistic long term partner led me to a particular woman who jived with me as I am. Having occasional girlfriends with and without penises was just showing off. I am bisexual, and I had an upbringing, and I have genetics. What is choice? What is fate? These questions are best left to philosophers. I prefer to ask, “why should it matter?” I don’t need to know anyone’s motivations to defend their reasonable right to self-determination.

@Smashley GA multiple times. I don’t need to know anyone’s motivations to defend their reasonable right to self-determination.

@Smashley I agree with you and I’m lost for words…would a big {{{HUG}}} do?

Some people say “I like my coffee like I like my women, I don’t like coffee.”. And they find support. And some die on Christmas alone and unhappy as George Michael.