This is a WordPress account I started in the 9th grade, and for unfathomable reasons, I decided to log back into it today. I turned red from embarrassment after reading some of the posts, so I promptly deleted them. I kept this one, however, because I remember being deeply wed to it when writing it, and not resting for hours until I got it to the point where I thought it was perfect. I’m changing it so that it is acceptable for my standards of writing today (even though I am certainly no Gladwell), so without further ado, enjoy “You’re So Gay”– revisited and revised.
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“In the fourth grade, this is how gay I [was]. I had a pink, Cinderella lunchbox” the slightly overweight, Lionel Richie lookalike boasted to Oprah. After a moment of back-breaking laughter, the Queen of Media exclaimed, ”That’s my definition!”
It is always a profound story when a child who is bullied because of his homosexuality overcomes his troubles and grows to be a confident, lighthearted man. In fact, if we have gay men ruling the world by the time we learn how to live on Mars, I might just consider staying. The unfortunate fact of life is that having a female president of a nation is groundbreaking, and having a gay one is practically unheard of. But the problem of gay rights does not lie in the fact that most aren’t world leaders, it is that most have yet to be accepted as world citizens.
In the connected era we live in today, it is often that connectivity that solidifies our hatred and unjustifiable disgust for others. The internet in its current state, is the most free and unregulated source of media, education and speech in the world. Nothing is off-limits, and even if our governments deem some things unacceptable, there are easy workarounds. There is nothing that can stop us from associating with vile people.
I’ve started to notice a trend. A trend that, especially amongst people my age, is becoming ever so common. No it’s not a fashion trend, or an obsession over the next Justin Bieber. It’s a trend that, at least for me, has taken the world by storm. Well, it’s not truly a “trend”. It’s more like the antagonizing of group of people, a way of life, and a culture. The hatred of others for unjust reasons. Hatred similar to that of primary school bullying, where a kid could not like another kid “just ’cause”. What exactly is this trend, hatred, antagonizing or whatever else you want to call it? It’s homophobia.
Not a school day passes 
without me hearing the word “gay” or “fag” being thrown around as an insult. “You fag, give my pencil back” or “you’re so gay” are just a few of the “kinder” insults I hear on a day-to-day basis. However, the strangest thing about these insults is that the meaning of it has been greatly skewed. For most people, when they call someone gay, they don’t really mean gay. The word has become a synonym for “idiot” or “moron”. So when someone says “you’re so gay”, more often than not, the message they are trying to convey is “you’re such an idiot“.
That, to me, is a problem. The fact that a group of people have become so harshly ridiculed that the word used to describe them has changed into a synonym for any other word with a negative connotation is just not right.
Sure, I live in Asia, where to many people– including my parents– being gay is just not considered “natural”. But it’s amazing to me how at my school, which consists mainly of Americans, homophobia is rampant. I had always wondered where all the hating of the gays came from, especially at an American school. A school which should, like the country, embody open-minded thinking. All my wondering stopped when I opened my eyes and ears, and started taking notice to the world around me. I realized that out of the entire world, America would probably rank #1 on a list of homophobic nations. From the Westboro Baptist Church to just general hazing and prejudice of gays, America and her people don’t like homosexuals.
A lot of this hate is justified by claiming the Bible says it is not right to be gay. Yet, no reason to hate gays is given. Others claim it’s not natural to be gay. Again, no reason to hate gays is given. In fact, the Greeks, during the age of Greek mythology, were a homosexual civilization. No social stigma, like western culture, influenced them to have any sexually orientation, and they naturally chose homosexuality.
The fact of the matter is, the world is turning homophobic faster than the ice caps are melting (cheesy comparison, I know). Although there isn’t much anyone can do to stop homophobia, seeing as it lives in the mind, there are still many possibilities. Whether it be little things, like not hating and mocking gays yourself, or bigger things, like becoming an activist for gay rights, a fight for equality is not impossible.
