Discrimination in any way, shape or form is disgraceful. I had never given much thought to it, but an experience I had at a conference whilst still in College made me question those who live in a 'Am I being discriminated' mindset. Unfortunately, looking back and around me now, I still see far too many people put their own failures or just plain back luck down to discrimination.
I'm not claiming that it doesn't happen anymore, but I definitely do feel that people tend to take advantage of the Political Correctness (PC) culture.
I attended a conference on behalf of my college and I met someone who made me think about the issue at hand. At the conference, there was this annoying incompetent kid I met in the morning of the event and was forced to partner up with (I had overslept and arrived late). About half way into our joint assignment I realized that he hadn't followed any of the guidelines and we (by we I mean me) had to redo all of it.
Needless to say, I was livid, still fatigued from travelling and lacking sleep. Even on my good days, I am not a morning person; about as irrate as a hormonal girl on her period. So I did what any civilized person would do. I exploded at him.
I drew on as much inspiration (as much as I could bring to bear in my groggy caffeine deprived state) in inflicting volumetric amounts of mental pain upon him for being so utterly incapable (and annoying), when he interjected by asking me if I disliked him because he was gay.
He completely knocked me off my flow (I thought I was in the midst of quite the 'Legen-Wait for It-Dary' tongue lashing. At the time to hide my confusion, I couldn't help but laugh it off and give him a pat on his ogre like back. Almost as though that act proved to him that I wasn't 'hating on him' for being gay. For several reasons:
A. Because it was a weird unexpected question; I had just bitched the kid out for not doing his job properly/being a useless tool/Being King in the Land of Village Idiots... being asked if I was prejudiced against him based upon his sexual orientation was not the response I had envisioned.
B. I didn't feel like explaining him the numerous ways how he perpetually annoyed me in the short 3 hours we had spent together. Imagine a clinically tone deaf person with a fork being stabbed into his stomach singing "Can't Fight the Moon Light" over and over again whilst typing (inaccurately as it turned out).
C. His ignorant outlandish statements were already so stupid, I couldn't compute; 'oh I think I definitely know where Pakistan is, its a place in Mexico, right?", that I had to grit my teeth and remind myself I was representing. (yes I was one of those morons).
D. I had no clue that he was gay; It's not like they wear a freaking sign. Though in retrospect the perpetual singing was probably a big clue. I admit it, I had sucky Gay-dar.
Thinking back on it, I realize now that it was probably a practised ploy to throw me off and make me uncomfortable. Well it worked you asshole. I'm forced to wonder how often had he and other minorities used that particular line.
"Is it because I'm gay/Muslim/female/christian/black/Yellow/Blue (OK maybe not blue)/etc?"
Now let me be clear, I have never disliked people because they are gay. I dislike them based on their merit and if they have values that I take issue with. It'd probably because you are a combination of being an incompetent asshole, dishonest, disloyal and a callous imbecile to boot....(stupidity is a given).
Anyhow, a few months later I was later posed a similar question at a Q&A forum by a prospective gay student as part of my Multi-Cultural Ambassador work on behalf of the Admissions office (yes I was still the moron representing) during an open house, he asked me whether discrimination was prevalent in Hamilton and do gay students in particular feel marginalized?
Now, I hate to break it to people, I am not the poster boy for the 'we have been discriminated against' movement, I can't say that it's been my experience (though flying commercial sure does suck), but if your looking for gross open acts of discrimination at any preppy super liberal arts college in New York, you've come to the wrong place. In response to his query I did make a keen distinction which one, in the world of political correctness (my membership was revoked), tends to forget.
You don't and shouldn't form opinions on people because they belong to a certain type casted group. It's unfair, we are all individuals who are more than the obvious labels.
Hell, I even have an Asian friend who is allergic to tea! (less than a hundred years ago, they'd probably have killed her with their multiple tea based cures)
I'm not sorry, the black person who can tell an audience that 'Pool' is a racist game, because the white ball has to hit the black 8 ball into the pocket to end the game, has severe self esteem issue and is almost grasping at straws to find a situation where he can claim discrimination. Lets not forget that a black ball is used in bowling to get knock down 12 white pins.
Barack Obama....need I say more.
Damn, it must suck to be a straight white (christian only in name) male. When did they become the minority?
For simplicity's sake lets get back to the question I was asked at the forum. and this is something like what I said:
People possess other qualities other than being gay (or whatever) that you can judge them on. If a good dude happens to be gay, then odds are that we get along (I did say I thought he was a good dude). One should never judge their attitudes towards someone based on their sexual preferences.
On the other hand if someone is an asshole (or has other qualities I profusely dislike) happens to be gay, I am not under any obligation to be particularly nice to him and treat him with kiddie gloves. He may want special preference, but what he (and every other being) is entitled to is equality.
He/she has no right to use the gay card cheap shot as their primary defense, otherwise I will be pissed and I'll know that I was right about them being a waste of space.
You have a right to be gay, whether you choose to be or were born gay, is a useless question, because of the end of the day you are who you are. What Science, Evolution, Creationism, Atheism, Buddhism have to say about it is completely irrelevant, in the end, there just justifications for any number of sides.
As far as a guy ought to be concerned, the more open gay people out of the closet, the greater the improvement in the straight male/straight female ratio. Gay men are a good bridge to understand what a girl is really trying to say (1800-female problems advice from gay people .com). Gay men are the only type of men that a guy feels comfortable leaving his girlfriend alone with for hours at a stretch (assuming he buys that you are in fact gay) and if a gay man says you look hot, it means you ought to go change (unless your into that sort of thing).
If you really are a bigot and think that gays and other minorities in general are unnatural, I'd really like to toss your sorry ass in the middle of gay gang banging heartland of Waziristan (but I won't because Islam teaches tolerance, and I am too scared to go into Waziristan).
If you really think it's abnormal, you ought to be happy with homosexuals coming out of the closet. Their gene lines end with them and the fact that they are willing to give up their inherent desire to procreate and multiply shows how serious they are about who they are.
We are all creatures of God, and who the hell are we to say that someone can't be what they are, but we are the ones who have the right to choose how we act, and its a matter of moral decency to treat others on their merits, not preferentially, but fairly.
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