LGBT Issues

Throughout my life I've always believed that as long as the way someone lives their life doesn't harm mine, then they should be able to do what they want. I believe that if two people truly love each other then they shouldn't be afraid or intimidated to express that love openly, even if their love is different from that of others. After all, love means something different to everyone and can't be narrowed down to one single definition. I've never had any problems with people of the LGBT community and I would definitely call myself an ally. I have a respect for those who aren't afraid to express and be their true selves but at the same time, respect the right of those who wish to keep their personal lives private just as much. Throughout history, even in recent years, people of the LGBT community have faced and still do face a lot of adversity. Whether it be homophobia, transphobia or what have you. I feel that homophobia comes from a place of fear of what is different from oneself, and that fear in turn becomes hatred of that which one perceives to be strange and different. People in the LGBT community are just like everybody else. Many are good people, many are shitty people. I think that it's just plain stupid to assume that there are blanket traits that are common to everyone that belongs to a certain demographic. I've met gay men who are honestly more masculine than myself and I've met lesbian women who defy every stereotype that society likes to place on them as well. It all comes down to the fact that I tend to see people as individuals, not as a collective. Thinking in absolutes has just never been my thing. Now onto the subject of transgendered people. Yes this has become somewhat controversial in recent years, and I think that that's largely because even though we've become a much more progressive society than we have been in the past, the subject of acceptance of transgendered people is somewhat of a new frontier for us. My thought on the subject is that I don't think it should be a big deal if someone wants to make changes to themselves in order to feel more comfortable in their own skin. I've only met a handful of transgendered people so I can't say that I've really had enough experience with these individuals to make any hard judgements on the process that those individuals have gone through in order to become who they truly believe themselves to be. Another thing is that, personally, I think the idea of people getting so bent out of shape about transgendered people using the restroom of the gender that they most identify as being, is just stupid. First of all, there is no evidence of there being any more cases of inappropriate behavior among transgendered people in bathrooms than there are of those who were born and identify as "cis". That's another thing I'd like to talk about. If you've read any of these entries, you would know that I'm a very progressive minded individual. However, even I have to admit that the whole subject of gender issues is getting a little out of hand. A perfect example of this is that I recently read an article debating the subject of the gender identity of Santa or, father Christmas (as I've never heard him called before) and whether or not the fictional figure should be known as "father Christmas" or "person Christmas". The initial first thought I had on the subject was "who gives a flying fuck?" but then I looked into the comments on the article and as it turns out, so many people had such strong feelings on the matter. I think that the article as well as many other similar "hot button" gender debates are pointless distractions that take attention away from real issues that those in the non-binary community are facing. Suicide rates among transgendered or genderqueer teenagers is crazy high because they feel that they are trapped in the wrong body and can't do anything about it coupled with the fact that they are often treated horribly by their peers because, as everyone knows, kids can be callously cruel. I think subjects like that should be the focus of society's dialogue on the subject. It's not just trans people that face such adversity. Kids who are simply gay, that live in deeply religious households, are petrified to come out to their families for fear of being disowned or ostracized. Even though those might be extreme cases, they do exist. It doesn't just have to be a religious issue, homophobia is just ingrained into some communities and this creates a hostile environment for those in the closet that just happen to have been born in those communities. It's wonderful to see how far we've come as a progressive society but we've obviously still got a long way to go. I think that we need to focus on the more pressing issues concerning the LGBTQ community in lieu of the trivial ones and as long as that is the center of the dialogue, I think that we will be headed in the right direction. People need to just get past their hang ups and relax when it comes to what others do with their own lives because ultimately, no matter what you believe or want, people are going to live their lives in the fashion that they want and most of the time, there's nothing you can do about it.