The text of the thread.
…should Twitter explode in the blaze of ignorance reserved for a spaceX 4/20 rocket launch.
Being queer and commenting on something related to Pride draws people out of the woodwork to prop up children as a shield like they’re just another Anita Bryant. To put it simply, she “didn’t hate gays” but needed to “protect the children from the homosexual lifestyle.”
What’s there to protect from? Ah, yes, the “Gay Agenda” – the great strawman of little definition that anyone can apply whatever evils they want to in order to justify their bigotry. Ignore the people actively ruining your life, there’s a queer over yonder!
It’s extremely disheartening to find those of my generation (or any, really) are still espousing the recessive ideals of the past and trying to hide behind a “hate the sin, love the sinner” mentality or “won’t somebody please think of the children!!!” …
… like queer people don’t also have children (or gasp the queer children of non-queers) they’re trying to protect from hateful comments and actions. Call out those hateful comments, and you’re putting the “Gay Agenda” before children’s safety.
Ban this, all because I don’t agree with it, but say it’s for the children. Ban that because I think it’s icky, but say it’s protecting women. Don’t actually protect the children or women, though, because then we’d actually have to do something.
BTW the gay agenda is to exist without being made political or targets of violence, so we’re obviously failing at that every day.
People existing, who have existed for years, decades, and centuries, are “political” because it’s been brought back as another thing to point fingers at for problems. We’re easy targets when we look different from others. We look different when we stop lying about ourselves.
We look happy when we are not lying about ourselves. Yet not lying about who I am is seen as political. I’m existing in my own life with my own goals and not forcing my life on anyone, but I’m told that I’m pushing the “Agenda.” By existing.
I’m “political” for just existing because my existence means that someone out there has to not treat everyone as if everyone thinks the same. And this offends some people to the point that they want to attack the “agenda” I’m pushing by existing.
This has gone on for centuries, through all of human history, with any number of groups being othered for existing. Ignore the man picking your pocket, there are two men kissing IN PUBLIC! There are people of color who are DOCTORS! PRONOUNS! All because they want to blind.
People who can otherwise be intelligent can fall to bias. They want an explanation as to why things are not going their way and someone comes along and says, “That group over there is why.”
Why are women assaulted? They say it’s transwomen and drag shows, though there’s plenty of documentation and studies showing that it’s more likely an AFAB person will be assaulted by someone they know.
Why are children and young adults groomed? They say it’s the “gay agenda”, but it’s always lecherous people who are enabled by those around them or their status, regardless of sexual or romantic orientation.
These crazy people think that anything LGBTQIA+ is sexual because they cannot fathom that deviation from a cishet relationship is anything but sexual. Why do groomers groom? Sexual reason. Why do trans people transition? Must be sexual, too.
My transition is the opposite of sexual. I grew up being told what is masculine and what is feminine and that as AFAB I need to do the feminine things. I never fit the media representation of girl or feminine, so I assumed, for decades, that I was a failure at life.
Exposure to LGBTQIA+ media, literature, communities, etc, introduced me, at 30+ years old, to the vocabulary and understanding needed to find out how to put into thoughts, words, and actions what I truly feel like. I’m neither masc nor femme. I don’t want to be either.
Pride events bring that kind of awareness to everyone, regardless of their identity. Maybe you feel like, after seeing that there’s support out there, you identify with something other than what you’ve been told to be all your life. Maybe you don’t.
Maybe you see it all and just think, “I’m glad they’re happy, but I’m fine how I am,” and that’s great! LGBTQIA+ isn’t a faction that you have to join or fight against. It isn’t even a cohesive group that shares all ideals. There are racist gay people, and anti-trans lesbians.
There are assholes in any group. Identifying as something doesn’t mean you have to adhere to all things related to that. That’s why there’s not actually a “gay agenda” and why it’s so easy for bigots to cherry-pick what they want to attack about LGBTQIA+ people and events.
“Won’t somebody please think of the children” my stawman cries as they plead for everyone else to attack their strawman.
Meddygon (they/them) 🏳️⚧️
@meddygon
