LGBTQ+ Rights and America

Yeah, in a GameFAQs message board(where I'm open about my ace identity), I said I find Tails cute and that if he was real, I'd cuddle him all day(I'm not that obsessed with him anymore, though). Even though I stated I'm ace, people still assumed I want to have 🤬 with Tails.

No, I don't. Even if I was gay/bi/pan, he's only 8 years old and I'm against this kind of thing.

To be fair, I made a counter of how many victims I was a victim of erasure as of 09/29/22 in that account's signature. So far, it only happened once after I started counting.

It almost sounds like every group hates every other group no matter how small a group is or how mistreated it is, any chance to shit on someone else.

That's because you're making the same mistake of assuming groups of humans are homogeneous.

There's also an unfortunate amount of inherent "your existence could undermine accepting the rest of us" paranoia.

Being an oppressed minority sadly does not make shitty people not shitty. It just drives them to seek people on a lower rung to be shitty to.

Edited by Perseus on Aug 19th 2023 at 7:43:57 PM

Being a bi trans woman in the U.S is hell right now, sadly. Wish it was better so I didn't have to fear for my rights and life.

Children's book publisher Scholastic has a collection of books with racism and LGBT themes for its US school book fairs where districts can opt out of, which has some librarians calling it a "bigot button".

These include small biographies of John Lewis and Kitanji Jackson, and a LGBT moment in a non-LGBT book (a girl asking another girl to a dance).

Speaking of it, to this day I still don't understand why teaching children to respect PoC, people with disabilities, or women is okay, but teaching children to respect LGBT+ people is still considered taboo.

Because a lot of people run around in circles in panic whenever they hear that children should have to hear about sex!!! The horror.

(I'll spare you the essay about how this not only doesn't work, but can put them in danger)

Maybe because of the unconscious relation a lot of adults make between sexual orientation and sexuality. As if telling kids about this stuff was like telling them about the flowers and the bees.

Edited by Lyendith on Oct 17th 2023 at 8:22:09 PM

I guess cause it's somewhat (not that much, actually) attached to sexuality which is seen as an icky subject for your dear innocent angels to be corrupted by. Also LBGT Qphobia I imagine, accusing them of being child groomers and all that nonsense.

Yeah, a lot of people hear "gay couple" and immediately think "so how do they fit together in the bedroom". And then assume that means being queer is inherently sexual because their first thought was sexual. It doesn't occur to them how weird it is that they think that about gay couples, but don't think that about straight couples.

...or it's a hint that they do immediately think "I wonder what kind of sex they have" with everyone else they encounter.

Edited by Zendervai on Oct 17th 2023 at 2:38:19 PM

It’s also worth noting that plenty of the people who oppose teaching respect for LGBT+ individuals would also oppose teaching respect for other groups if they thought they get away with it politically.

Yeah. It doesn't look the same between the US and Europe though, because of different targets of bigotry. Unless it's about the Roma or Irish Travelers, where way too many European people will instantly start spewing the most disgusting bile about them at the slightest provocation. And sometimes for no reason at all. Which is being paralleled with trans people these days.

But they're not. Before the current crusade against LGBT books, the big culture war pushed by the right was "Critical Race Theory" and now also DEI, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. Conservative operative Chris Rufo is very open about this on social media.

Yeah, teaching children to respect POC is very much not OK in "conservative" reactionary circles.

Edited by Medinoc on Oct 18th 2023 at 11:40:54 AM

Though teaching them to disrespect POC (and women) is socially unacceptable enough that they have to couch it in "we're just against white men being demonized".

Michigan and Ohio Republicans were caught on tape saying their goal is to completely ban all trans health care by doing it in increments.

Edit: or maybe I should say have an open conversation about it on the site formerly known as Twitter.

Edited by tclittle on Jan 28th 2024 at 1:45:16 PM

We've been saying it.

"It's about protecting women's sports" "It's about protecting children"

No, it's always been about hating all trans people and wanting to remove us from public life entirely, regardless of age. But even though legislators are saying this out in the open people will still hide behind the same excuses.

Tennessee now has a law saying public officials can now be allowed to refuse to officiate same-sex marriages based off religious beliefs.

The bill doesn't allow officials to not grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

So homosexual couples can still get married, but priests have been given the right to refuse to conduct the ceremony because "it's against their religion", did I understand that correctly?

Priests aren’t public officials, the law is talking about government officials like a county clerk.

Edited by Silasw on Feb 21st 2024 at 7:35:51 PM

And what do you do if you live in a small community with one, maybe two county clerks intending to be a jerk about it?

… This just reeks of slowly removing the right for LGBTQ+ people to get married at all. You know, starting small, letting people refuse to officiate gay couples on religious grounds without ACTUALLY illegalizing gay marriage right off the bat.

Either way, this feels like a case of Loophole Abuse to let bigots be openly bigoted without consequence.