Who are we? We are our stories.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Gay-Bashing

Justine, sometime commenter to this blog sent a link to a commentary on a gay-bashing incident in her neighborhood in N.Y. and the resulting protests. How long does this crap have to go on? A couple of years ago a gay friend had the hell beat out of him in a bar, not because he was bothering anyone, it was just because of his sexual orientation. This didn't happen in some strange faraway place like New York or Wyoming or California. It happened in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Listen, you ignorant redneck S.O.B.s, this is my final warning, I'm not going to put up with this shit any longer.
-Thank you

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've got your back.

--michael white

Chad Burma said...

Agreed. There was a gathering of Nazis at the WWII memorial across from the bike shop on Saturday. It's disgusting, I'm tired of the bigotry in this country.

Sexual discrimination is as evil as any discrimination. Anyone who disagrees with that is hiding behind the veil of religion or ignorance. I didn't choose to be straight, I just am. And damn straight I acted on it, just as any gay person should.

I believe that gay rights is a civil rights issue and should be protected by the same laws that protect race, religion and gender.

Thanks for bringing it up Gunnar.

E said...

Word. I spent the weekend in Berlin and not only is the bike infrastructure fantastic, the gay community is strong and proud.
/Erik

Justine Valinotti said...

Thank you for your show of support. I have to admit that I didn't think much about civil rights until I came to terms with my own gender identity. So you are, at least in one way, better than I am.

One thing that my experience has taught me is that privilege is something you don't know you have until you lose it. Before I started my transition, I was living as a white male who was, at least as far as most people could tell, straight. As I was about to embark on my transition, a black lesbian asked me, "Why do you want to give up all that privilege?"

The thing about privilege is that it's worthless when you can't live as the person you actually are. All it does is to facilitate some of life's transactions. I went from living in a nice place in a fashionable neighborhood to nearly ending up on the streets. Still, I wouldn't go back.

Then again, even after losing most of my old privilege, I do have a new, if lesser, one: I usually pass "under the radar." Most people, until they spend some time with me, think I'm a middle-aged straight-or-maybe-bisexual-bisexual woman. Which, of course, I am.

Still a couple of more weeks until I can get back on my bike!