<p>
[quote]
Because nobody cares if you're straight, and nobody should care if you're GLBT
[/quote]
</p>
<p>^You're right that they shouldn't. But they do. You probably don't perceive that (you seem to think the GLBT situation is just peachy) but then again you're heterosexual so what do you know about the current treatment of GLBT individuals? (I don't mean that in a mean way, it is simply the truth)</p>
<p>how unproductive.</p>
<p>So gay. You'd have to be gay to be supporting this. (As in, in the gay club.)</p>
<p>The only good thing about it is that it gives you an excuse to not answer questions in class. But theres no point since the people doing laugh and joke with their friends as soon as they're outside the classroom. Sometimes while talking they don't even bother stop to take off that whole 'I'm making a stance by acting like an sullen child and wearing a card board sign around my neck.' You know, if these people frowned and stuck out their hand you'd think they were homeless and asking for money.</p>
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[quote]
they don't have heterosexual day or heterosexual clubs or any of that crap that GLBTs have. Why? Because nobody cares if you're straight
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<p>This kinda struck a chord with me, because I used to think this about a lot of minorities - why is there an Asian club? Why is there a black club? There's no "white" club. Nobody cares what color skin you are.</p>
<p>But the truth is, it is very difficult to understand how a minority group feels unless you are put in their shoes. Nobody cares if you're gay or straight, but every romance is about a girl and a boy; every magazine ad or tv commercial shows an attractive straight couple in a car or wearing Abercrombie clothes; 1/2 of the conversation at a girls' lunch table is about cute guys; when you get a bad grade, or slip and fall - "that's so gay". Gay people's parents throw them out of their homes, or don't allow them to meet with their boyfriends or girlfriends. Straight boys can walk up to a girl, strike up a conversation, and ask her out for coffee...and in the same beat, is offended when a gay guy hits on him - and then asks him why he "needs a club". </p>
<p>But nobody cares what your sexuality is. </p>
<p>The world is a heterosexual club. Next time you're flipping through channels on the TV, or looking at posters for new movies, or talking about the opposite sex with your friends...think about that. I know that as soon as I realized these things, many of my conceptions about minority groups changed.</p>
<p>Commercials are meant to appeal to the widest audience possible. That would be the straights. An advertisement showing a guy and a girl holding hands is normal, a commercial with a guy and a guy holding hands would weird me out just a bit. I don't care if two guys hold hands, but it's not going to appeal to me or sell me a brand of clothing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Commercials are meant to appeal to the widest audience possible.
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<p>That's why homosexuals are a minority group. That's why they have clubs, and T.V. stations...which you oppose. What you are saying is that it's ok if the majority is loud and proud...but a person can't be loud and proud and gay. It's ok if everyone is just like you.</p>
<p>I guess because blacks or left-handed people are in the minority, they are not "normal". I guess you should be "weirded out" by them. It is for people like you awareness needs to be raised.</p>
<p>This thread has really saddened me. You say it should be enough for gays to be accepted...but obviously they're not. They can't even have a club without people being upset about it.</p>
<p>FYI the activist gay population is the minority... most gays just want to mind their own business. As for day of silence, I don't do it but it's fine if people want to... it's funny how it riles some of you guys up. just ignore it if you don't like it.</p>
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</p>
<p>If you don't care about two guys holding hands, then why would your perception of the clothing brand they're advertising be affected? </p>
<p>As you should know, companies are not concerned just about appealing to the masses who want to see people like themselves in commercials; they also have to deal with people who, on top of buying (and prompting companies to perpetuate) the said marketing strategy, are often averse to references to homosexuality (there's a difference). If homosexual and heterosexual relationships are supposed to be the same besides biological differences, why is there a difference in the level of respect accorded to each? In this case, the problem is not rooted in the media but in societal ideals that affect how media is shaped (although the opposite is also true). For example, the aversion to homosexuality is not rooted in the media but in the Judeo-Christian tradition.</p>
<p>
In what way is silence anything like having "pride" shoved down your throat? While I don't think that the Day of Silence is the most productive way of making a point, I think your statement is inaccurate. Silence is actually peaceful and mild. Also, this event wasn't about pride.</p>
<p> [quote=Sibelius]
...they still pretend they're being discriminated against. Just do what you want and leave the rest of us alone without making a big show.
</p>
<p>You are delusional for thinking that homosexuals are no longer being discriminated against. </p>
<p>Homosexuality is illegal in 82 countries. I don't understand how something that is not a choice could be illegal.</p>
<p>As a person who has put so much time and energy to get support for an activist-colleague in Jamaica who has received numerous death threats from the police, I find your statement distasteful.</p>
<hr>
<p>Our group decided to broaden the scope of this event to include not only LGBT people but also other minorities. For our purposes, the event was successful (we ran out of T-shirts). </p>
<p>I think the Day of Silence is not about being unconditionally silent but to speak only when absolutely necessary (i.e. in class) so that the impact of silence could be maximized without hurting its participants. In my opinion, other forms of communication should've been silenced as well (no notes, no Facebook messages, etc.). </p>
<p>It's the same sentiment as the moment of silence devoted to, say, honoring the service of Iraq soldiers, except the Day of Silence is devoted to strengthening a social cause. Even though the Day of Silence is probably less productive than a speak-out event IMHO, I thought that the use of silence as a metaphor for oppression was pretty cool, especially since I do a lot of activist work involving activists who are imprisoned for voicing their opinion (irrespective of the cause). However, I could only imagine the extent to which people would criticize a speak-out event if they think that witnessing silence=having things "shoved down the throat." And it's usually the same people who criticize both. Funny how that works...</p>
<p>i participated</p>
<p>my feelings towards this: live, and let live. i could care less what other people do. just so long as it doesn't harm my well being go ahead and do what you want.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I guess because blacks or left-handed people are in the minority, they are not "normal". I guess you should be "weirded out" by them. It is for people like you awareness needs to be raised.</p>
<p>This thread has really saddened me. You say it should be enough for gays to be accepted...but obviously they're not. They can't even have a club without people being upset about it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't understand how something that is not a choice could be illegal.
[/quote]
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<p>Left-handed and black people are that way genetically. No one has ever gone from being black to being white. People have gone from being straight to gay and vice versa. I would get in an argument that homosexuality isn't genetic, but I'd just get shouted down. Show me proof of one person who inherited a "gay gene" and was a homosexual from birth and I'll shut up.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
No one has ever gone from being black to being white.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p><em>moonwalks</em></p>
<p>Annyway..</p>
<p>Why would it matter if it's cause by genes or not? A gay person is gay for whatever reason, they don't need to JUSTIFY that for you do they?</p>
<p>No, they don't need to justify it. I have a moral problem with it, but I also have a moral problem with fornication. I don't really care what you do. And yes, I did forget about The Michael Jackson...<em>shudder</em></p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Actually, interestingly enough, I either didn't see or didn't notice anyone doing the day of silence thing. If the GLBTs wanted to further their cause, they might have chosen a protest that would actually gain attention instead of one that would make people completely unnoticeable.</p>
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</p>
<p>Huh? There is no single gene for any polygenic trait. In the same way that there's no single gene for violence or alcoholism, there's "gene for" homosexuality, even though all three are genetically influenced. What are you talking about? There are only genes work together to predispose a certain individual towards having a certain characteristic/behavior, and environmental factors activate this predisposition. You misunderstand this basic biological concept. </p>
<p>
Go ahead.</p>
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</p>
<p>So, which one is it? "Make a show" or not "make a show"?</p>
<p>I read something a while ago on finding a difference in gay fruit flies to straight fruit flies in their genetics in Scientific America. So there's sort of an example.
Oddly enough, since my school is comfortable enough with our (small) gay population did not participate in the protest.</p>
<p>Funnily, the spazzy religious person in grade wore a "Day of Truth" t-shirt today and well.... That didn't go over well.</p>
<p>Evidence? There's plenty. My mom knew a man who was gay but tried to bury it and got married. He decided he couldn't live like that, so he divorced and lived a gay lifestyle for years. He ended up converting to Christianity and leads a normal lifestyle now.</p>
<p>That is not evidence that his sexual preference changed. How do you know he's not in self-denial? How is his conversion to Christianity or having a "normal lifestyle" any indication that he is no longer gay? Are you implying that gays can't be Christians? What is a "normal lifestyle"? The fact is that you won't know he has successfully changed his sexual orientation until you hook him up to a machine, give him provocative pictures of men and women, and examine the degree to which parts of his brain light up after looking at each kind.</p>
<p>lol your moms friend is now just having anonymous sex in public restrooms instead of having a legit, normal relationship with another man. NOW he has an abnormal lifestyle. the gay lifestyle isnt much different from the straight one when its open... it only gets weird and risky when repression sets in and the man gets married w/kids and visits the local park</p>
<p>i have had gay friends discriminated against, and the Day of Silence is to protest against the horrible discrimation against them. homophobia is here, it is real, and as ugly as it is, we have to recognize this problem. attitudes like " they're just putting on a big show" scares me, cause we don't really know what it is like to be a minority and discriminated against. really, please think before you speak. you're being very selfish if you think that they are "pretending to be discriminated against".</p>