Contest ended and Winner contacted! See you next year! Or sooner… I’m always around here, lol
Hello Internet Addicts!
It’s the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia today and you’re at one of the blogs participating in the Hop Against Homophobia, Bi- and Transphobia. You can find more about this day here: http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/ and I highly recommend that you visit the other hop stops for a chance at all those prizes given today!
Main Hop Page: http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com
I was told that I should write a inspiring message concerning homo/bi/trans-phobia and frankly I don’t have a clue what to write. Probably because for me it’s common sense to be respectful of others and their lives or to accept my fellow humans with all their diversity and uniqueness. It would be such a dull world with everyone conforming to those pesky unwritten (sometimes written) rules that describe what “normal” is.
I am not gay. I think. Lol. My brain figured out a long time ago that little boxes are not for us (me and all those alternative personalities all authors have). Labels are just that. Little boxes that imprison our spirit and limit us and our development. I refuse to adopt a label but just for clarifying I am female, not attracted to male or females but to people and their shiny soul. Though I really really admire a well formed male body. Probably the reason I started writing gay romance.
I have never had to defend myself against homophobes or other kinds of ‘phobes. Sadly, I have friends not so lucky. Shunned, hit, marginalized and humiliated. I feel pity, but not for them. They are true to themselves and those still in the closet have good reasons for hiding considering the lame state the world is in. My pity is for their aggressors. It must be really sad to be so afraid of somebody else that you feel threatened and backed up in a corner with no other solution that to attack verbally or physically. “Phobia” is after all “a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational.” I have some anxiety issues myself so I know how that is. So I pity them for their irrational fear, pity their narrowness and lack of empathy, their incomplete soul that will forever know only the confines of their small imagination, their lack of love and acceptance for it was probably copied from a close example and in the end they are the ones that lose the opportunity to connect with other human beings. For everyone that ever had to suffer because of narrow views, I urge them to remember that homophobes are the ones sick and love is never wrong or a crime (unless you’re a pedophile).
Alright, message finished or I’ll rant forever on the topic.
Giveaway time!
Describe shortly in a message an instance when you felt discriminated or noticed someone else being discriminated, be it for the way they looked or their sexual orientation. I’ll even start.
I had blue hair for almost two years and people not only thought me weird, they were looking funny at me and making rude comments on the street about my weight (we’re talking East Europe here and 18-22 age range). It took a long time to accept that they were wrong and I’m not a whale (I am size 12, for gods’ sake! Okay, currently leaning towards size 14 🙂 ) and I’m now trying to dye my hair purple.
The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on the 24th, please leave the message in such a way that I can contact you with your prize, alright?
Ah, what the prize is. The winner gets one of my published titles, any one of them that they want. You can check the titles here:
http://www.amazon.com/Aeryn-Jaden/e/B00OLGRNO0
I’ll end this unusual long post for me with not a urge to stop Homophobia but
Say Stop! to any kind of Intolerance!
You would have thought being civilized meant we had already learned to play nice.
Write and read! Book Addict 
I’ve got many looks when I’m out because I’m a big woman. I’ve seen people look at what I’m eating. I try not to let it bother me but it does.
sstrode at scrtc dot com
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Yeah. I know what you’re talking about. I’m not model thin either. It really sucks, pardon my French 🙂
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Thanks for joining
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
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I’ve never been discriminated in my life,and honestly I’ve never been in a situation where someone was discriminated. I would like to say that’s because I live in the most tolerating country ever,but sadly no,that’s not the case…We’re neighbors,by the way (you’re from Romania,right?),so you’ll understand when I say that’s because here anyone who is different in terms of sexual orientation (since that’s what this all is about) hides what they are. And,unfortunately,I understand them completely…I would like to say it’s getting better,but we still have a very long way to go.
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Romania, yes. I find sad that hiding is the norm though. It’s like there’s an unspoken rule, you want to be safe (even live?), yeah, you have to hide. We have a very long way to go.
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I’ve been discriminated against a few times because of my race. The last time was when I was in high school. I was taking the bus home and for no reason at all another high school student just started making racial comments and cussing at me.
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
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Children and especially adolescents can be very cruel. I’m sorry you had to go through that.
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I encountered discrimination toward my gay friends, sometimes so bad that they pretended to have girlfriends so they can live in peace.
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Yeah, I saw a lot of people doing that. It’s sad to feel the need to hide your self for safety and it just perpetuates the unhappiness. One of my friends, female, just got married. She practically convinced herself that she can be happy being straight and with a man. She is pregnant now. I hope she will be at least content with the life she lived when she looks back in 50 years. I
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My daughter was once told by a state employee that she could not pursue a career as a paralegal because of her sexual orientation. She did go to school for that. But dropped out for medical reasons. She is an amputee and has dealt with a lot of insensitive comments because of that. In middle school, two girls would not room with her for the class trip because she it is so gross to take off a leg.
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I’m getting depressed reading all the answers. But then, I’m getting reminded that people are out there, braving all and succeeding and it restores a part of my faith in humanity. Your daughter sounds like a wonderful person because she didn’t let others dictate her. She tried even if it was to much in the end and that’s all that matters. As for those girls.. That seems the saddest part to me. They were repeating what they saw and perpetuating it. Those children grow up to be the ones that become incomplete and intolerant adults. It’s a great failure, we are teaching our young less good things every year it seems.
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hm… I’m not the most observant person when it comes to these sorts of things. no that’s not true, but i have recently (last 5 years) lost the defensiveness i carried around with me for so long, so all my memories from when I was back in the full swing of the human culture are clouded by that, and I’m not sure if I felt…the horribleness the sadness, the discrimination from what was being said or clouded by the defensiveness (and alcohol drank a lot of that in my late teens) — tho i know I have been very lucky in life maybe I’ve never seen full hatred pointed my way but I doubt it
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We all have our ways to cope and not all of us are outspoken or just barge ahead, etc. We are different, react different, see different. Yet, so alike. It’s enough that you felt in a certain way, no matter if it was 100% real or pointed your way. As for alcohol.. I found that it’s just a tool for coping most of the time. It probably made you feel different, get out of your head for a while. You know better how it was. It sounds a bit like a depression( I have a bit of a history with that). You are lucky, but yet not, because you most probably succeeded in getting over that period because you were strong. We are all lost in a way, some just don’t know it 🙂
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Hey Aeryn, what a beautiful post! I don’t comment to enter the giveaway either. I love your point of view on this question. Phobia is indeed an anxiety disorder and we should probably pity them instead of their victims. I think they might need a big group hug. Maybe it would help them understand that everybody needs love, no matter what gender they are, or who they love ♥
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The sickest individuals are the ones that don’t realize they are. Sadly, this is the case with this- I don’t know how to call it. Social disease? Mental for sure. And they are so alienated from what means to be a loving human being that they probably wouldn’t know what to do with a hug or a real gesture of affection. It is sad. Loved your post too! Very informative ❤
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I work in the medical field and I once had a very sick man in a nursing home refuse my assistance because of my race. He didnt want me to touch him at all. I didnt respond directly but did immediately have him placed with another nurse. Not out of anger even if I was pissed off but because his life and care was more important than my feelings. I honestly dont think he could have helped it or changed it. Its all just sad.
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This just supports the theory that it is indeed a mental disease. A mental blockage of sorts. As you said, they probably can’t help themselves. Though that doesn’t excuse discrimination but it maybe explains the roots of it a bit. Maybe a better informed population and stopping the promotion of discriminatory material(it’s present even in cartoon or children’s stories) would help slowly eradicate it.
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