The Peaceful Protest against Homophobia

A few weeks ago I felt moved and therefore obliged to write about the horrific news that a number of teens across America had committed suicide as a result of being bullied about their sexuality. The more I read when researching, the more upset I became and angry that our race can be so hurtful towards others, evil enough to send somebody right over the edge. And I was only to find out about more and more cases throughout the following weeks…

I don’t know about the numbers now, the statistics if there are any or even the details of particular cases – what I do know, though, is that this is a problem that should not and will not be ignored. Some may try to push it under the carpet or cover up their embarrassment by denying all knowledge of such goings on and living in a pretense that what they believe is right, blinded to the fact that it is clearly not.

In a reaction to the suicide spate, campaigners in America have initiated a widespread program named ‘It Gets Better’, which gives way to forums, speeches and discussion about what life can be had after the bullying, the name-calling and the ignorant hatred of those stupid enough to purposefully throw insult to those who happen to be gay. Initially, my opinion was that there should be no need for such an organisation – that really, we should be working on educating those who thinks that homophobia is acceptable and therefore focusing on preventative measures. But that was over-optimistic and unrealistic of me – I suppose I wasn’t aware of quite how ingrained such thoughts, beliefs and prejudices could be, nor how intense the feelings against something that to me, is completely normal.

This video really stood out to me. Please take the time to watch it:

It moved me to tears and I hope it has made people really think – people on both sides, well, all sides…

I understand that religion often plays a huge part in what people are brought up to believe are good or bad, wrong or right, sinful or not sinful and as I was brought up in the Catholic church, I know only too well that the teachings about same sex relationships are so outdated it’s untrue. I cannot ever envision a time when the Catholic church allows same sex marriage or gay priests, although many Catholics do wish that it would. Only this week, a ‘passionate protest’ was held during the Pope’s visit to Spain. After mass, as he was leaving, the Pontiff was subject to a mass gay kiss – no shouting, no violence… just men loving other men and women loving other women…

If only those against homosexual relationships could be so peaceful in their protest.

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• http://twitter.com/ilonacatherine ilona burton

  “Orthodox gay Catholics believe that, and they take their sexuality as a sign that they should remain single.”

  I feel for them.

• http://theuselesseater.wordpress.com/ Clare

  “I feel for them.”

  That is a perfect example of the kind of attitude I referred to at the beginning of my comment: “People who aren’t in relationships are viewed as objects of pity or wonder.” Orthodox gay Catholics may have made a different set of choices from you, but there is no reason for you to start assuming that they are unhappy as a result of those choices. They have a different worldview from yours, that’s all.

  Out of curiosity, do you also ‘feel for’ the numerous straight Catholics who have also chosen to be single?