Straight DU'ers: Ever get bashed for sticking up for gays?

Back in college (long time ago mind you) I was given a lot of shit for siding with Gay rights.

Anyone else out there have this happen?

I dont envy them - and I love how the fundies always throw it in their face as a "choice", like anyone would choose to be marginalized like that.

who get shit. I feel bad for them. I admit I was once ignorant but I have grown better with age.

It's sad that people have to make fun of you because you believe in equal rights for all. It makes me sick. :puke:

I don't let those RW assholes get to me, though.

Just assumed I was too radical to associate with (I think?) Or that I was a lesbian myself.

You know - it's not possible to be for equal rights unless you are actually "one of THEM!!!" :scared:

Most people who know my politics (and many who don't) assume that I'm a lesbian. So I get called "dyke" a lot in political conversations. (In line at the grocery store, someone made a nasty comment about gays. I replied firmly but not threateningly in defense of them. I heard, "Shut up, bull dyke.") :grr:

The ones who don't know my politics make that assumption because (as near as I can figure -- I asked some honest friends) I don't wear dresses or makeup, and I carry myself authoritatively, and I don't kow-tow to men.

So, when I stick up for LGBT people, I get snarky comments about how I must be "one of them."

It drives me nuts. I'm not gay, and if I was I wouldn't be ashamed of it, but I'm just NOT. My libido is ridiculously active, and nothing turns it up faster than a tall, strong MAN. :shrug:

Men who look like or remind me of Professor Snape, especially. :evilgrin:

The conservatives in my life who know my politics but also know that I'm straight just tell me that I'm a radical, a flaming liberal, an idiot, or some other epithet. Sigh.

so no. I have always had gay and bi male and female friends and my husband used to work for a business owned by a gay gentleman. Don't really understand what all the fuss is about. But I think that sometimes I choose to be around liberal tolerant folks ( I live close to several universities) and that I am buffered at times.


What is it with you and Snape... ;) He IS kind of sexy.

There is a new Potter movie in the summer. My son is very excited.

and I'm strait. I told him that "God loves gay people, he hates you". He wasn't happy. :)

to be personally hated by Rev Phelpy is almost an honor!

Fred deserves a special spot in the hell he loves to preach about. Ever seen his website, www.godhatesfags.com?

with the day count of how many days he has been burning in hell on that site. I haven't been to that site in a few years so it could still be there for all I know.

and there is nothing Godly in that.

:loveya:

Next to Hitler and the KKK, Fred Phelps is one of the few people I would like to run over with my car.

like fred phelps

and thank you!

:yourock:

I was in the break room at work and some gay issue came up on the program we were watching on TV. I said (out loud) "I can't understand the issue...doesn't everybody deserve the same rights here?". A person I work with who was a Navy Seal 20 years ago looked at me, sneered, and said "What, are you gay?".

This was a defining moment for me. I was 100% behind what I'd said and I realized that even though I'm straight I wasn't offended by somebody asking if I was gay.

I told him "No, I'm not, but that doesn't make a difference. I'm not black, either and I don't think they deserve to be treated differently."

...He didn't get it, I'm afraid...

who stick up for us 'mos. It takes guts.

I spouted all of the "They can do what they want, just don't do it around me" tripe that some try to call "personal preference".

I really don't know what changed things for me, but equal rights for EVERYBODY became a big issue for me about 10 years ago. I find it repulsive that some people are so offended by somebody's orientation that they're willing to relegate them to second-class-citizen status.

I'd like to think that I'm making up for my past by being agressive about what I believe now...

I'd rather not go into detail, though. It's blood under the bridge now....

.
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In college, one of the few people I respected as a felow student happened to be black

I'm as white as they come . .

anyhoo . .

when some of my "friends" got at me one day for hanging aroud with this guy, I asked them what's the problem, cuz we agreed alot on most things and we enjoyed discussing all sorts of shit

anyhoo

I got a bigots reply "welll, heck - doncha know they are all ass-holes?"

I responded that "I've lived in 6 different places, attended 5 different schools, had 4 different jobs,

and in my tender 24 years of living

EVERY ASSHOLE I'VE MET SO-FAR WAS WHITE !"

that was the end of THAT !

:evilgrin:

Once, in a last-ditch effort to maintain my belief in Christianity, I reluctantly joined a Charismatic group. When I refused to renounce homosexuals as sinners (my exact words were "God loves junkies and faggots and the Red Chinese") I was solemnly informed that the leaders would be arranging an exorcism to save my soul. I said something about anyone laying a hand on me would get his ass kicked, and walked out.

There are lots of gay people in my industry. On the surface everyone "accepts" it but there are more than a few Neanderthals who sneer and giggle about them in private. All I need to say is "Well, you know what they say about homophobes..." Gets me dirty looks but it shuts their mouths, at least around me.

What industry do you work in?

Love the line about God loves the red chinese!

Lots of smart, decent people mixed in with lizards and shitbags. The usual company mix.

Thanks for the compliment - I was pretty proud of that line, being about 19 or 20 at the time. :D

Im a straight dem, but i support gay rights. I avoid the bashing by staying away from the topic. Im in high school, i dont need the bullshit you know. If the topic does ever come up, i side with the liberal consensus so as not to be a target. Sad but true, like idiots and patriotism for straigts, "you're either with us, or you're queer"

Or does having a beer mug smashed into my face count?

If so, then I guess my answer would be yes.

To top it all off, these kind of things happened due to being a musician, not a gay rights activist, and some of my brothers and sisters on stage happened to be gay/bi.

What a world, huh?

I get called a communist for it too. Conservatives really don't know shit do they?

got beaten up by 3 strangers (he was alone, of course - bigots are flaming cowards) who thought he was gay. He's straight...
I did once get in a fistfight sticking up for Jews, though.

Some CA voters tried to ban gay teachers. I spoke against the ban at several school meetings and was labeled fag-lover and physically threatened. Given that I'm 6' and 200 pounds (of muscle, then) the taunts and threats proved meaningless. The gay ban failed at the polls.

it sometimes me into keeping my mouth shut, but hey. ive seen gays stick up for straights. gotta return the favor, that and its just right to fight against hate, no matter where you like to stick your whatever. (no offense intended to anyone)


-LK

Kicked the shit out of a couple of big football players who were hassling the drummer in my band who was gay. I guess they didn't see me as much of a threat,but what they didn't know was I had only been out of the Marine Corps for less than a year and still had a hell of an edge on me :)

as well as harassed.

Some cons against gay marriage have accused me of implying they are bigoted because they are against it. I never say that they are, but maybe they figure out that for themselves...

I guess people think that if you stick up for gay rights, you must be gay.

I usually counter by asking if sticking up for American Indian rights makes me a gay Indian.

As one of the few token kids who liked "new wave" (ahh, remember that term), I received more than my fair share of ass-kickings. And the wads of gum thrown in my hair. And the punches in the back of my head as I walked down the hallway. Everyone thought I was gay but little did they know that I was a raging hetero. Of course, it really opened my eyes and made me a pretty strong supporter of equal rights for everyone.

when I stick up for gays. But that's because I came from a redneck republican stronghold in the mountains of PA. People in Rochester, NY aren't so retarded.

but I'm in high school, so it's to be expected. I've never had anyone try to start a fight with me or anything because I support gay rights,prolly cause I'm big enough to stand my own against pretty much anyone, but I've been called a faggot and crap like that.

that is what most of my straight (particularly male) friends were told. If one picked up for gays one had to be gay also.

:loveya: :pals: :headbang: :yourock:


From the bottom my heart,

Thank you so much!

One who supports Gay rights is automatically assumed to be gay themselves, regardless of one's sexual oreintation.

People amaze me. It's really very sad.

....but when i lived in scareolina, the local county council passed an "anti-gay resolution".....i was told about the vote at the last minute, and i got my butt down there to protest. when the vote passed, i happened to be next to the photographer from the local paper....he took a picture of me "booing" the vote and i was slapped on the front page the next morning.

from that point forward i got several threatening phone calls and hate mail.

thanks!! :toast: :thumbsup: :hi:

I stumbled onto the cult when I was 17 and completely fell in love with it. By the time I finally realized (in my youthful naivete) just how many gays and lesbians frequented RHPS, I didn't give a damn one way or the other.

Those people had become my friends and they loved me for who I was. After 17 years of almost complete ostracism from my so-called "peers," I finally felt that I belonged somewhere. And what an awesome feeling it was!

As such, to this day, whenever I call homophobic behavior on the carpet, I think of it as repaying one of the biggest favors ever done for me.

but I, of all people, have to live with myself.
edit spelling- oops.

I don't take shit from anyone.

As it happens, I'm in the middle of a gay rights flamewar at another board right now. Who cares what those bigots think? Fuck 'em. It doesn't bother me.

Went with some friends of mine to the local gay bar on a Saturday night, had a couple of friends in a drag queen beauty contest. Went out after the bar let out to the local Country Kitchen, with said friends, two of whom were still in drag. Well, had one fine outstanding specimen of Mid Mo redneck who kept checking us out, checking us out, and then about halfway our meal, this fellow starts giving ME ten kinds of hell about being a "faggot queer". Now, to set the scene for you, there are two other guys besides myself at the table, both of whom are in drag, and two women, one who is butch as all get out. Me, I'm the biggest person there, 6'5", 250#, not fat, though I was balding, with a long ponytail and lots of body hair, in other words I'm straightest looking person at that table.

Well, he continues to ration out the shit, I dish it right back for awhile, my friends were having a blast listening me go off on this homophobe, finally the manager came out and put an end to all of it. Well, after we all paid, we went out to the parking lot, I was going one way, and the rest were going another way. We were chit chatting and saying goodnight when this jerk comes out of the restraunt and starts threatening me, while ignoring my friends. I had about had it with this fool and told him "How would it feel to get your ass kicked by a queer in front of your buddies here?(he had a couple of guys with him, but they hadn't participated in the fun earlier, and quite frankly didn't look like they wanted to tangle with anybody). Well, of course this is a threat to this guys manhood, as small as it might be, and he takes that swing. I proceeded to put him down and out in about thirty seconds(had a good deal of martial arts training in my youth), and while he is grogging around trying to shake it off, my friends start applauding, and I lean down and tell the fool "I suggest you leave town now. You've had your ass kicked by a queer, and you will never ever live it down" His eyes got about the size of dinner plates, and though he didn't say anything(I don't think he could), I wouldn't be suprised if he moved out the next day. Columbia is a very tolerant place, but what few homophobes we have here take their obsession seriously.

about 2, maybe 2-1/2 years ago, there was a huge schism over gay rights and the Green party, and a number of longtime DU'ers left here forever. I refer to this as the "Capitol Grilling" schism, because many of them went to Capitol Grilling and started thread after thread bitching about the "gay greens" on DU. I got labeled one of the "gay greens", too.

Most of those folks have never been back, at least not under their original usernames. One took an entire forum with her.

just the same. Me and a few of my open-minded Army buddies went to see "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at the Vogue Theater in Louisville, Kentucky (RIP, Vogue. :( ) and got to know the cast for the floor show pretty well. One time, after the show, we were hanging out at Denny's when some gay-bashing jerks gave a few of my friends a hard time. Apparantly, they were ranked on pretty bad. (I arrived from the theater after it happened.) My friend Charlie, a real sweet guy who looked like a linebacker, but had the face of a cherub, asked me if I would walk him and his partner back to the car when they left. I said sure, and that's what me and my buddies did. The jerks didn't follow us or give us a hard time, but it sure felt good letting my friends know that I had their backs and would be there for them.

My cousin was gay, died of AIDS in 1988. I decided that anyone brave enough to come out of the closet isn't gay as a "lifestyle choice" and deserves as much happiness as anyone else.

God grant me the serenity to accept those things I cannot change,
the courage to change those things I can
And the wisdom to hide the bodies of the sons of bitches I had to kill because they pissed me off.

starts out with threatening remarks towards all of us sitting at a table or at the bar, remarks escalate and shoving commences, names called..."faggots!....queers! get out of here!.....go home!"

then punches thrown.

this has happened a number of times in my life.

and each time echoing in my head is:

"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me."

Pastor Martin Niemöller

i know that while i was fighting for my buddies, i also know i was fighting for me.

thought I was a lesbian--I think itwas wishful thinking on their part.

why do guys think women turn gay because of a bad sexual experience with a man? If that was true ALL WOMEN WOULD BE GAY. :D

put my name on the fundraiser signup sheet someone had posted on their cube wall. No less than three fundie assholes told me I was going to hell for "supporting the gay agenda". :o

Besides, the lame professor had never even heard of the Kinsey scale? :wtf:

I don't want anyone telling me who I should love and what I should or shouldn't do in the confines of my bedroom (or minivan), why should I expect any other adult wouldn't feel the same? I just don't "get" the whole homophobia thing? :shrug:

You Go SarahBelle!

Less of my looonnnnggg, drawn out and introspective posts though. Yup, I'm a-tryin' to up that post count.

eom

O8)

eom

I got kicked off the student paper (in which I had an op-ed column) for saying (in more words than these) that people at my school were a bunch of racist, sexist, homophobic, religious bigots. This was because people had been calling me "lezbo" since Minute One, and had been calling a good friend of mine "gay" and "faggot" all the way through, *plus* calling him every racist name in the book because they couldn't figure out which one actually applied to him. (He's half Serbian and half Spanish, as in from Spain, and he has dark hair, olive skin, and big dark eyes.) The jerks.

I used to get tripped and pushed and stuff at least partially because everyone thought I was a lesbian. (My friend actually *is* gay; I'm not.) Sigh...

WHenever I stand up for gay rights, people give me sh!t over it, saying that I must be a fa*get as well. Then I camly tell them that I'm a straight black male who dosen't like the idea of people being treated as second class citizens.

I had a gay friend in 9th grade and was invited to her birthday- some people were like "OH watch yourself she might hit on you" and stuff like that. I wound up not being able to go anyway, but those comments were a slap in the face.

I don't know if it's because I'm extremely opinionated or what but I've discussed issues like Gay rights with people who don't support my views but rarely do I ever get challanged. I wish people would argue with me a little more...I love a good debate.

It could still happen, of course, and my older brother is gay, so the issue is there if it comes up. It hurts me so much when I hear about the rockets my brother's taken over the course of his life.

So, if anyone ever gives me shit about standing up for gays or gay rights, I'm fully prepared to say, "Let's go, motherf*****."

not only about gays but I give racists a go too. and mcps get invited out of my company with vigor.