Question: Why do those of us who are "straight" feel the need to say that when we defend GLBT

rights?

I don't have the answer, because I do the same thing. And I notice that others do it as well.

But I know it's a bit immature on my part and just displays my own insecurity. And I admit it and own up to it.

But on the other hand, is it good for the world to know that people who are not GLBT support this cause and take it deadly seriously, and stand by them no matter what?

So many times, in my anger over an anti gay situation, the thing I tend to forget first is how many straight people there are that are standing with me. It is definitely a feeling of solidarity when I see someone who supports the community and identifies as straight. I know it isn't said enough, but thanks to all by straight brothers and sisters. :toast: :grouphug:

:toast: :hug:

...but my primary motivation is to identify myself as a source of support from within the heterosexual community, i.e. to let my GLBT comrades know that some support comes from the group that is persecuting them. I think that's valuable, but of course that's just my opinion-- or hope.

It concerns us all.

I hope it's important that this is a serious issue to those that are not of the GLBT community. This is a civil rights issue and should be a championed cause to all of us.

I think part of the reason I say it is because, well, I'm not homosexual. I don't get it. I don't mean that in any derogatory way, I mean "I don't get it" in the same way as I don't get being African-American, or Muslim, or any other minority that I'm not. And just as I would not want someone trying to tell me "I know how you feel" when I'm going through a rough time (unless they have gone through a near-identical situation), I'm not going to pretend I understand what it's like to be GLBT.

Mostly I see it as solidarity. In the same sense that as a white male, I support equal rights for women and non-whites 100%, despite being neither.

my post would leave it up to one's imagination if I was gay or not. I don't think it matters. But its the same thing people tend to do when talking about different minority groups and weighing in.. We can't see one another on the screen.

Only when one tries to come on to me. otherwise I don't go around telling folks who I want to have sex with.

The problem is that our society as a whole is uncomfortable with the sex side of the whole thing. Most of society is uncomfortable with sex in any form. And since the persecution is so mean, when one becomes free of it they let that flag fly and it makes others uncomfortable.

So what happens is that the two sides to the issue end up going round and round and no solution gets hammered out. Obama intends to do some hammering, I think. But he's got to sit down at the table with both sides to do so.

the heterosexual women that might be fantasizing about me out there in Internet Land.

Keep hope alive.

.. implies that there is something not
right with homosexuals.. bent, crooked.

Of course the word "gay" is bad too.

to all progressives and liberals and anyone else who values human rights, as I feel the need to deny that this is simply an issue that is of concern only to GLBT people. Rights are transitive and shared. Your rights are my rights and if your rights are denied so are mine.

weren't supporting gay rights because you were affected in the same way I am. It sort of says, you have options to walk along and not notice and you don't - you stop, and call out wrong as wrong - and it IS noticed and appreciated.

white and support equality for all people of color. I'm not Jewish, but oppose anti-semitism. You get the idea.

For me, it's all about unity and I want the people who are being discriminated against to know that, although I am not part of their group, I care and will do what I can to support them.

equality for our GLBT neighbors, friends, and relatives. We want the world to know that we think they are just like us "straight" folks and deserve to be treated that way.

:-)

I a firm believer that straights should make their support loud and clear, "I am straight and discrimination against ANY group offends me." How do GBLTs feel about straights qualifying their support? I guess that's the question.

Seinfeld for those who didn't get the reference.

David

As kids me and my friends would routinely call each other faggot as a generic insult. Some time around the 4th grade I outgrew it, but I noticed several guys kept up with that immaturity. By 6th grade I'd actually met a gay kid (a very brave, very socially isolated, out of the closet 7th grader) who I didn't like seeing bullied. But sticking up for someone like that kind of made me feel the need to reflexively distance myself from any suggestion that I might be gay too. Kids can be mean. They're a lot less mean now than they used to be, I think.

I also have a less petty reason for doing so. I think it's a good thing for people who are not gay to make a big deal about saying discrimination against gays is wrong & evil. I think denouncing hatred should become a universal norm. I hope by keeping my straight toe in the pro-equality game, I give permission for other breeders to jump on the bandwagon too.

civil rights are not only 12 people in the Castro.

I can pass as good as anyone. :P

The way I see it, it's completely irrelevant to the point I'm making.

On the internet, no one knows you're a Golden Retriever.