What Has LGBTQ Rights Have to Do with Straight People?
Why should you care about the LGBTQ movement if you’re straight?
Let me start by saying that the LGBTQs and straight people are not much different from each other. In fact, we have a lot in common.
We Are Not Much Different From Each Other
For example, I identify as queer. I love eating adobo (I’m bad at cooking it) and I know a lot of straight people lists adobo as among their favorites. I like watching movies, I love the beach, I love dogs, I get grumpy at times, I hate being stuck in traffic, I like going out with friends but sometimes I just want to stay home. And I love having a good laugh.
Now, these are just a few things that for sure, many straight people love as well. And it’s safe to say, that those are a lot of common ground we can work with.
We Are Not Enemies
I don’t like it when some LGBTQs see straight people as an enemy. I do not support this notion at all. My mom is straight, and so was my late grandmother. My 5 siblings are straight and so are the 10 cousins I am close with. Many of my friends are straight. So to my fellow LGBTQs, please reconsider before branding straight people as the enemy. Straight people, although some can be very difficult and hateful towards us are a diverse group. There’s as much jerks and good people you can find within the LGBTQ community as there is in the straight community.
We Want The Same Things
Before we move on, let me first say it out loud that what we, the LGBTQ people want, are much the same as what any straight person wants. We want our potentials maximized. We want to have security in our jobs. We want to feel safe and be free from harassment, bullying, and violence in classrooms, schoolyards, work place, out in the streets, and even in our very own home. We want to not be barred from public establishments. We want to love and be loved for who we are and be there for the person we love the most especially in critical moments.
As I’ve said before, what we want and what straight folks want are not fundamentally different at all. These things that we want are inherent rights, meaning from the moment you and I were born, these rights are yours and mine.
But all of these rights are easily taken away from us LGBTQs, just because we do not identify as straight.
Why Should You Care About LGBTQ Rights
For sure, you have noticed that the LGBTQ movement is getting at least a considerable amount of attention. It’s being discussed in the media and more people are weighing in on the topic. But there’s still a huge portion of straight people who just shrug their shoulders and think “What does this have to do with me? Why should I care?”
What Do LGBTQ Rights Have to Do With You?
At a very young age, I have witnessed my trans sister get bullied for who she is. I’ve heard people say that gays are immoral. I’ve heard stories of young kids being beaten by their parents because they were gay. I think we’re all aware of such stories. And the sad truth is, most of us are no longer surprised when we hear them. We tend to just regard it as something as normal as the sunrise. Some even see these stories as a laughing matter.
Allow me put a name to such a story. Edmund Padilla was 19 years old when he experienced first-hand, the horrors of discrimination against LGBTQ folks. Edmund is gay and his father was not happy about who he is. So one night, his father scalded him with boiling water. Edmund suffered severe burns. The father, when detained by authorities said that his reason for committing this horrendous crime against his son is because Edmund is the third among his children who identifies as gay.
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This is just one among the many cases of violence and hatred against LGBTQ people. Many remain unreported. And it’s very upsetting that in many cases, LGBTQ people experience hatred and violence towards them in their own home. The very place that should provide them with love and safety.
Indifference to the plight of the LGBTQ movement fuels the thinking that it’s normal and that it’s okay to discriminate and be violent towards the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and queers. If we all keep turning our eyes away from the sufferings and injustices experienced by the LGBTQs, we embolden people who commit and to commit horrendous violent acts against LGBTQ people.
You probably know someone who belongs to the LGBTQ community. Perhaps someone dear to your heart. You have the power to change how society treats them. I hope you find it in your heart to care enough to speak up.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
Do you have a straight friend that supports you and cares about your rights? Tell us about them.
