The Concept of Gay Persecution
by Why is it that a person, created and driven by nature, should be persecuted for loving?
Travis was the guy who made people laugh, and it didn’t matter if you were having the worst day of your life; he would be there to ensure that at least one smile would crack your stone face wide open. He was the guy with silly voices and funny faces, with ridiculous hand gestures that belied his sweet and innocent visage. With glasses, reddish hair, and a round, pink face, he had the cuteness of a child and the devilish expression of the Cheshire cat. Travis was the guy who had a good number of friends… That is, until he introduced the love of his life, the object of his adoration, the boy of his dreams.
Yes, the boy.
Travis’ life-changing moment wasn’t typically falling in love, but rather the moment when he revealed his lover to be another boy. It wasn’t long after that moment when Travis found that he had a lot fewer friends than he had originally thought, and it was at that moment when he learned that his parents’ embarrassment at their son’s sexuality truly outshone their love for him.
Travis killed himself.
Gay persecution is a very common battle in the world today, and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Studies show that, “…gay and lesbian youth are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than other youths and 30% of all completed youth suicides are related to the issue of sexual identity.” (http://www.gayfamilysupport.com).
Image by Dan Strange via Flickr
This fact is due to many reasons, which include, but are not limited to:
- feeling isolated from family and friends due to sexuality
- guilt
- shame
- religion
Here are some statistics to think about:
- 45% of gay males and 20% of lesbians surveyed reported having experienced verbal harrassment and or physical violence during high school as a result of their sexual orientation
- In a survey of lesbians and gay men in Pennsylvania, 33% of gay men and 34% of lesbians reported suffering physical violence at the hands of a family member as a result of their sexual orientation
- 80% of lesbians, gay and bisexual youth reported severe isolation problems
(all statistics above taken from http://www.gayfamilysupport.com)
- from November 3, 1992, to September 30, 1993, at least 132 attempts to
restrict the rights of gay men and lesbians occurred in 41 states and the
District of Columbia (http://www.pflagupstatesc.org/statistics.htm) - Lesbians and gay men have virtually no legal rights when a partner becomes
incapacitated because of accident or illness (http://www.pflagupstatesc.org/statistics.htm)
Why should people be persecuted for an uncontrollable force of nature? Why is it wrong to be in love with, or to lust after, someone of the same sex?
Whose business is it, anyway?
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Post CommentKate Smedley
On March 12, 2009 at 1:07 pm
How tragic for Travis, I am a firm believer that it is up to you who you love. It shouldn’t matter what sex someone is, nor what colour. Well written article.
Fegger
On March 12, 2009 at 1:12 pm
A timely and important write, ML, as (at least in the U.S.) the media is brutalizing the concept of gay marriages which have risen into political forums once again; and somehow, we need to establish laws to govern such desires or aspirations. How would any “straight” person feel if the tables were turned?
rutherfranc
On March 12, 2009 at 2:34 pm
really timely.. but my advise is for the `minority` to coast along with the `majority`, follow their hearts but don`t be outrageous about it and wait for their time.. it will come but for now, respect the majority`s point of view and don`t resort to extremes..
Ristifer
On March 12, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I remember you telling me the story about Travis, and it was devastating to hear something like that. I agree with Kate. It is always up to you who you love. It’s unfortunate that these things happen, but it’s all too real today. It’s tough to see if persecution of homosexuals will cease anytime soon in the future, but with stories like these, it’s impossible not to hope for it to stop.
You’ll bring attention to many with this article. Great job.
Joni Keith
On March 12, 2009 at 6:02 pm
How sad that anyone should be persecuted for such a personal decision. As Kate said, it is up to you who you love. No one should be allowed to make that choice for you or persecute you for the choice you make. How sad for these individuals whose own families, the very people we expect to be most accepting of us, should isolate them. Someone needs to shake up and wake up these feeble minds. This is a brave attempt at that. As always, a great article.
ShaFar
On March 12, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Good article. Yes, Travis was human. No man on earth had a right to judge Travis. Very sad that Travis put an end to his life because of heartless people that drove him to it. We all are unique and have diversity in our lives. The people that made Travis feel unaccepted are the very ones that have skeletons in their closet. These people experience no guilt because they do not have feelings. Travis had the same color blood as all humans.
It is not up to us to judge. These people are sometimes born into the world as a gay or lesbian. Some are not. They are people too. We are all God’s children. We all are unique.
If Travis was my friend, I surely would have tried to get help for Travis.
Olivia Reason
On March 12, 2009 at 9:24 pm
There are people like Travis whoa re murdered emotionally for being gay and there are the people like Matthew Shepard, who was physically murdered.
And it must stop. Great article.
Lee Altman
On March 12, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I to feel for Travis. Also my personal feelings for gays and lesbians are that it is no bodies business, No one looks in my bedroom and I don’t look in their. Why can’t people stop judging other and look in the mirror. I’m straight with gay friends and we even talk openly about some things, but certain topics are none of other peoples business. Who ever doesn’t like it can well I don’t know, maybe look somewhere else.
Lee
Ruby Hawk
On March 12, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Your personal life is nobody’s business as long as you are not hurting anyone.We all have the right to live our own lives but sadly in this world we do judge others if they live a different life style.Maybe some day we will grow up.
denus
On March 16, 2009 at 1:08 am
Its pretty terrible, reminds me of chuck and larry the movie.
Bullwinkle Muse
On March 21, 2009 at 2:07 am
I have seen this struggle in the lives of too many friends and loved ones. So much so that I wrote a poem which deals in part with the religious aspect of this bias. Thank you for covering it so well here, ML.
clay hurtubise
On March 23, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Thank you.
Clay
ding dong
On March 25, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Homosexualism is 1 of 3 stages of sexual degeneracy.
It is also a mental illness.
homosexuals also spread sexual diseases at a higher rate than non homosexuals.Except for negros.
Nobody cares about your sexuality , so stopping shoving gay rights down our throats.
We heteros do not approve of your sick,disgusting sexually disease riddled lifestyles.
Google the san francisco gay parade and watch homosexuals perform the most disgusting vile sexual acts in public and in full view of children.yes while they were peeing on each other and inserting any object up their rectums children dressed in fish net stockings and dog collars were watching these disgusting sexual acts which would have gotten any heterosexual gaoled.
So if you homosexuals are being persecuted then please explain why the law allows this disgusting event to take place in full view of children?
I also have some statistics on homosexuals ,although i dont think you homosexuals will like them simply because they show that your lifestyle choices are disgusting and perveted.
ML Sheldon
On March 26, 2009 at 10:22 am
ding dong:
In case you should come back to check your comment, I’d like to point out a few things to you.
1. If you look at your comments, you should realize that you’re no better than the people you described.
2. Being gay doesn’t mean that a person will behave in the way that you described. It is true that there are communities where those events take place, but open your eyes to the fact that straight people do the same thing. Refer to human trafficking if you want to see what true scum is.
3. If you don’t care about the sexuality of other people, then shut up and don’t read these articles.
4. The events that you described above certainly shouldn’t have been allowed to take place – I agree. The idea here is for equality in all aspects.
5. I’m not gay, but I know people who are, and they are very decent people. I was close friends with Travis, and he was a fantastic guy.
6. Disease is spread by people in general, gay or straight. Do some research.
It looks to me like you’re racist and very discriminatory. If you don’t like hearing about this stuff, then don’t read or listen to it. That’s a choice that you can make as an able human being.
REPuckett
On March 26, 2009 at 10:15 pm
First of all, thank you for the excellent article. If there is any article that needs millions of readers it is this one. Secondly, thank you for squaring Ding Dong away. I am a married man with one gay brother and one gay sister. Living an experienced life opens your eyes up to the fact that everyone has a different lifestyle no matter how minute or blatant that difference be. People are people, period. Very good article, ML.
ding dong
On March 28, 2009 at 1:35 am
Im gonna make my choice now and go on record and say that homosexualism is a perverted mentally ill lifestyle choice.
ML Sheldon
On March 28, 2009 at 9:32 am
It’s homosexuality.
That’s your opinion, and thanks for sharing it, even if it is very shallow.
Run along now.
MrZebra84
On April 3, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Well, I am gay… So obviously this is the first article of yours I chose to read. Very well done. I have yet to meet a gay person that hasn’t thought about killing themselves, myself included, sadly. Wonderful article, thank you so much for standing up for us. Someone needs to. Kudos to you dear
R J Evans
On April 17, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Thanks for this article – so much on Triond is about the Bible and how it disapporoves about this and that and the other, it was good to see an article firmly rooted in the twenty first century.
Oh and as for ‘ding dong’ (dong is slang in the UK for penis, so that makes some sense!), I will just repeat the words of a current poster campaign here in the UK.
Here we go… “Some people are gay. Get over it.”
Dayna
On April 20, 2009 at 2:18 am
I lost a sister to this sort of thing. I did
Not care that she was a lesbian. I loved
Her and because her mother (we have
Same dad, diffrent moms) disowned her
She killed herself.
To this day I wish I stayed with her
Through that until I knew she would be ok
But is anyone ever ok when rejected by
A parent?
Now I know why aliens from other worlds
Don’t stop by and say hello. We can not even except our own kind with diffrent
Thoughts and colors. Makes being human
More of a burden than something to be
Proud of.
Thank you for your article it was good but
Sad.
S A JOHNSON
On June 22, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Ding Dong is one of my favorite kinds of bigots. He/She is probably one of those people who pray to god wondering why there is so much hate and cruelty in the world. OR gets angry and stomps out of the room when he’s in a debate and the other person actually has facts and proof to back up their theory and he/she doesn’t.
Until there is more tolerance there will hate and it really sucks that some people suffer so much from it.
ARYAN
On November 13, 2009 at 5:20 pm
well…change is the only permenent thing.we humans born wild and then chained with norms,religons and diffrent things..so its natural for us to deviate from nature or to nature..well iam a bit doubtfull we are going towards nature or away from it..becoz nature is nature when its in the wildest form…but there is an end to every thing,so searching the reasons for ends is also quiet unique thing in itself.iam in love with a boy.gay concept is good…waitttt…iam in love with a girl….GAY…then we call it unnatural…think good