Galacticatt wrote:I don't know about funny- I guess I have a hard time thinking prejudice is funny. IE the comment above might not be that funny if you were a southerner and someone said that to you. It is both pointless and homophobic to say "I am straight but I like rainbows" - uh- what the hay does being straight have to do with liking Rainbows?
The fact that you have to go to great lengths to re-affirm the fact that you are NOT gay is insulting to gays. Who cares if someone on this board thinks you are gay? I don't say "well I like fried chicken but I'm not black" because that's a stupid thing to say. Casual homophobia shouldn't make me so upset since it is so common that people hardly even know what they are doing, but it is still disappointing to encounter in a community that I like.
Being straight has no more to do with rainbows than being gay does. The only non-parallel here though, is gays don't have to worry about donning the rainbow and then stating that they're gay. Oh the joys of double-standards. And I'm not homophobic. That you so easily toss that word around hints at some prejudice on the other end. But we know that isn't true. A minority group can't be prejudiced... only a majority group can. That's how society works. It is illegal to poke fun at, or request compensation from, any partiular group of humans except for Christians, White Caucasians, Americans, and Heterosexuals.
It's ok for a hetero wanting claim to the rainbow as a symbol to be offensive to gays, but the opposite isn't true. Yeah, I know how "reverse racism" works. Gay pride can be everywhere, but curse (and possibly arrest) any heterosexual who dares show any self-confidence in his or her choice.
But I guess that attitude actually fits the definition of pride, "a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc."
If you think this isn't true... just ponder for a moment what would happen if someone ever wanted to ever have a hetero-pride event. It would be immediately slammed as prejudiced, even though they're just exercising the very same right. The fact that this would be viewed as prejudice, is a form of prejudice.
The black comparison is only fair if gays have a unique skin color... which they don't.
It's downright appalling that it is considered prejudiced for someone to want the same social privileges as another, simply because the someone who wants it is in a majority group that at some point oppressed the minority. I never gay-bashed, or forced a black person to sit in the back of the bus, or burned a Witch at the stake, but I still have to feel shame as if I did and tip-toe around people, just because of who I was born from.
But whatever. I'm a member of a majority group, so I automatically lost this debate before I even started typing.
