So yesterday was International Coming Out Day. It's a great day to think about how lucky we are here in Canada to be able to come out without facing being thrown in prison. But we still have a long way to go. Today is the anniversary of Matthew Shepard's murder. For those of you who don't know the story of Matthew Shepard, he was a young man who was tortured to death by his peers for being gay. This happened 14 years ago. His murder was a stepping stone in hate crime laws in the U.S. In 2009, after an eleven-year struggle to have violence against LGBTTQ* people recognized as a hate crime, President Obama signed it into law--known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
I first heard the story of Matthew Shepard when I was in grade 11. My teacher played us the CBC radio coverage of it. At the time I was pretty far in the closet. The gruesome details of his death hit me very hard and if anything pushed me further into the closet. I was so afraid that if I came out something similar would happen to me. I was positive that at the very least I would be kicked out of my home, and lose most of my friends and my family and most of my friends were very Christian and I had many discussions with them about gay rights. Most of them believed that homosexuals shouldn't be granted the right to marry or adopt children. I look back on that now, and while I think my fear was reasonable, it was perhaps unneeded. I came out after going to University and having put some space between me and my family and my friends. My family was very accepting, and I only had a few friends who chose to no longer be a part of my life. And it still pains me that those people left me, as I was very close to them. It hurts to know that they could have cared for me through so many of my issues like depression and self-harm, that they stood by me and promised to always be there for me, but as soon as they found out I liked women as well as men, they abandoned me. I still feel the loss of these friends, but since then, I've made friends who accept me as I am, and kept close with the friends who said who I love made no difference to them. I can't express in words how grateful I am to have such wonderful people in my life who are a fantastic support network for me. Being involved in a lot of public LGBTTQ* rights, I'm still a little frightened that being so open and public leaves me vulnerable to be physically attacked. I have been verbally attacked about being openly bisexual, and yes, words hurt and bullying is a huge issue. But I've developed a pretty thick skin thanks to high school, and it takes a bit of the sting away. I know I'm not the only one with this fear, and I hope that by the time the next generation comes around--hopefully before that--that fear is completely unnecessary. I hope there will no longer be a need for gay rights movement, because we will be have equal rights and be treated with equality. I hope that coming out will no longer be a big deal. That when a teenager goes on their first date, there won't be the assumption that it's with a person of the opposite sex. That when a person wants to go through transition, they will have the necessary resources and support to do so.
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Ok, so right now I should be working on my 15-page essay which is due tomorrow, as I have only completed roughly 7 pages. But IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I WILL BLOG IF I WANT TO! So my roommate is super awesome and got me THE BEST MAGNET EVER!! Check it! So great right? I know! Speaking of kissing girls...I have something to rant about! What a surprise! I've mentioned before that I've never really experienced overt homophobia before. But last saturday I had my first experience with it. I had no idea people could be this freakin ignorant. So, Jack, me and some other friends (including my wifey) decided to head to the bar last Saturday. We were out on the dance floor and me and my wifey were making out. Out of nowhere this girl comes up and starts harassing us. She said what we were doing was wrong and we shouldn't be doing that. First of all it was NONE OF HER DAMN BUSINESS! She just got all up in our faces because apparently it's ok for her to come to the bar, drink her face off, and make out with some stranger but it's not ok for us to make out. WTF?! After a while she said her problem was that we were getting all the attention from the guys in the bar and she wasn't. I have soooo many problems with that. 1. We didn't want guys attention. We are into each other, we do NOT make out purely for the amusement of men. 2. We had our guy friends with us. NONE of the guys in the bar were coming up to us. 3. Get over yourself. Maybe it's not our fault that no guys are hitting on you. This girl was just insane. At one point she was pushing Jack, and trying to provoke him to hit her. She told this guy in the bar that we were bothering her and that he should fight our guys friends. But when he saw that she was the one starting stuff, and our guy friends were just stepping in to keep us from attacking each other, he kind of backed off. I am still so mad about this girl. What makes her think she has the right to tell us that me making out with another girl is wrong? I'm generally a pretty chill person, but the things this girl said just make me so angry. So while I'm angry about it, I may as well direct my energy towards something productive. Like that essay. I'll try and update soon my lovelies! xoxo |
T-Girl
The one with estrogen. Bisexual, student, poet. Intrigued? Well good thing there's an entire blog for you to read then. Archives
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