OMG Elaby talks about "gay issues"
Sep. 8th, 2005 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabySo, this was in my in-box tonight. And it's all a very nice thing, and I'm not knocking it, don't get me wrong. There are just some things I disagree with.
October 11th is National Coming Out Day, and this was part of the e-mail HRC sent to me:
"Maybe you’re coming out for the first time ever,
or maybe you're just talking with a neighbor, coworker, friend
or acquaintance about GLBT issues for the first time.
Regardless, coming out and being out is the most important thing
you can do."
Now, I agree that spreading the truth and correcting ignorance about gay people is a very good thing, and that coming out and being candid with your friends, etc. is very liberating for some people. What I disagree with is the idea that coming out is "the most important thing you can do". I don't think that a person should feel they have to come out in order to be comfortable with themselves. Some people could call me cowardly or say that this is against the gay liberation movement, or whatever they want to call it, but I think that you have to be cautious and think very carefully about who you come out to. Now, it sucks that we would have to worry about this at all... but nonetheless, it's the truth, and I really don't think that someone who is just figuring out their sexuality should feel pressured into telling people. In a perfect world, yeah, you could celebrate a day in which everyone was candid about their sexual orientation by telling whoever you wanted. But as many people have pointed out, it's not a perfect world.
I think people should be able to go at their own pace and feel truly ready before they tell anyone anything that's this important. True, some people may need the kind of push that a set date gives them, but from my point of view, I would feel pressured and uncomfortable talking to someone I didn't really trust about this kind of thing. I would never say that it isn't brave to come out, but I would say that it isn't cowardly not to do so. In some ways I feel that people who are still "closeted" are some of the bravest.
And that's my social-type issue opinion for the *checks watch* decade.
October 11th is National Coming Out Day, and this was part of the e-mail HRC sent to me:
"Maybe you’re coming out for the first time ever,
or maybe you're just talking with a neighbor, coworker, friend
or acquaintance about GLBT issues for the first time.
Regardless, coming out and being out is the most important thing
you can do."
Now, I agree that spreading the truth and correcting ignorance about gay people is a very good thing, and that coming out and being candid with your friends, etc. is very liberating for some people. What I disagree with is the idea that coming out is "the most important thing you can do". I don't think that a person should feel they have to come out in order to be comfortable with themselves. Some people could call me cowardly or say that this is against the gay liberation movement, or whatever they want to call it, but I think that you have to be cautious and think very carefully about who you come out to. Now, it sucks that we would have to worry about this at all... but nonetheless, it's the truth, and I really don't think that someone who is just figuring out their sexuality should feel pressured into telling people. In a perfect world, yeah, you could celebrate a day in which everyone was candid about their sexual orientation by telling whoever you wanted. But as many people have pointed out, it's not a perfect world.
I think people should be able to go at their own pace and feel truly ready before they tell anyone anything that's this important. True, some people may need the kind of push that a set date gives them, but from my point of view, I would feel pressured and uncomfortable talking to someone I didn't really trust about this kind of thing. I would never say that it isn't brave to come out, but I would say that it isn't cowardly not to do so. In some ways I feel that people who are still "closeted" are some of the bravest.
And that's my social-type issue opinion for the *checks watch* decade.
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-09 07:44 pm (UTC)Thank you n_n *really all fuzzy now*