Replies to '06/06 "I'm Gay, OK?"'

Quote From: geoffsgrrl

OK...this is a major issue for me.  I am a lesbian in a rural area and I'm still in high school so I'm really sensitive towards a lot of the hate and other less-destructive but still as hurtful discrimination that goes on in society towards gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals.  I have family members who say very painful things about my sexuality.  Even when the things they say aren't meant to hurt me, they still do.  Lots of straight people don't seem to see that.  I know some people in the queer community who don't let this stuff bother them, or say it doesn't bother them, just because they're older and have been out of the closet longer.  But I don't think that, as I get older, I'll feel any less hurt by what some homophobes say about me and my queer friends.  I don't think hearing those destructive, ignorant things will ever become easier.  Queer people die all the time at the hands of radical homophobes, and I feel like if I don't do my part to try to stop that from happening, even if I continue to get hurt in the process, who will?  If proud queers and straight allies of proud queers don't do their part to stop the abuse, how will queers ever get a real chance to experience the true freedom and liberty that straight people do?