I am not trying to say that being gay is right and normal, it is after all, not natural, otherwise the human race would have died out a long time ago, but, one point I would like to make clear is that, for the majority of gay people, being gay isn’t actually a choice.
As they say, you can’t help who you fall for…and why would you choose to risk being thrown out of your house, rejected, bullied, frowned on by your religion and hurt by people around you? You wouldn’t.
People are changing their attitudes towards gay people, we can see it all around us, the existence of gay clubs and bars, TV programmes and films with gay characters, the stricter policies against homophobia, yet, still in the modern world we live in, with technology the size of a chocolate button, phones that can track your voice and answer to your command, we still have hate and discrimination, prejudice against people because of their sexuality.
As a new college student settling into a new environment and making new friends is hard enough, without the added stress and pressures to let your sexuality be known. You are straight until proven otherwise. So you have to tell new people that you are gay because, you face the risk of losing them later on, if they find out and wonder why you never told them in the first place.
Negative reactions and losing friends is another experience that comes with being gay, all in all I would say that being a gay teenager is a genuinely awful experience that I would not wish on anyone, if I could change my sexuality I would not hesitate in doing so, yet the sad truth is I cannot, I was born this way, I believe, and I am stuck this way for the rest of my life, so may as well make the most of it, embrace it and try not to let others put me down for it.
So, just a little word of advice, or a favour I ask, please, next time you start to mumble the word ‘queer’ or call someone a ‘dyke’ or even hiss ‘That’s so gay’, please think of the gay community, with all their hurt and pain, and remember: it’s not that easy, so please don’t make it harder than it is.
As they say, you can’t help who you fall for…and why would you choose to risk being thrown out of your house, rejected, bullied, frowned on by your religion and hurt by people around you? You wouldn’t.
People are changing their attitudes towards gay people, we can see it all around us, the existence of gay clubs and bars, TV programmes and films with gay characters, the stricter policies against homophobia, yet, still in the modern world we live in, with technology the size of a chocolate button, phones that can track your voice and answer to your command, we still have hate and discrimination, prejudice against people because of their sexuality.As a new college student settling into a new environment and making new friends is hard enough, without the added stress and pressures to let your sexuality be known. You are straight until proven otherwise. So you have to tell new people that you are gay because, you face the risk of losing them later on, if they find out and wonder why you never told them in the first place.
Negative reactions and losing friends is another experience that comes with being gay, all in all I would say that being a gay teenager is a genuinely awful experience that I would not wish on anyone, if I could change my sexuality I would not hesitate in doing so, yet the sad truth is I cannot, I was born this way, I believe, and I am stuck this way for the rest of my life, so may as well make the most of it, embrace it and try not to let others put me down for it.
So, just a little word of advice, or a favour I ask, please, next time you start to mumble the word ‘queer’ or call someone a ‘dyke’ or even hiss ‘That’s so gay’, please think of the gay community, with all their hurt and pain, and remember: it’s not that easy, so please don’t make it harder than it is.
