LGBTQ

At first, I was definitely apprehensive as to what this assembly was going to be about. I thought it was not going to be relatable, interesting, and that it was going to provide the ignants of our school with more fuel of which to harass people of different sexual preferences. To my relief, I would say that it could not have gone better. It was inspiring to see everyone stand up to support these people and the choices they decide to make. The video that was shown was also perfectly appropriate and obliterated stereotypes of gay male weakness and preferences. Seeing his teammates rally around him was awesome and I am sure that many people that formerly would not even consider coming to the defense of a kid with a different sexual preference were emboldened by this act. The most moving part was definitely having kids from our school share their own personal stories. I could not imagine the courage it must have taken them to stand up and speak in front of a crowd of that magnitude, especially one laden with people you will have to see everyday for the next couple of years.

The one thing that I hope people were able to take from this, if they were only capable of changing so little, is empathy. I cannot fathom why people think it is their right, or even their business, to try to control what other people do. They cannot possibly know how these people feel. They cannot possibly understand how much pressure, stress, and hate that people affiliated with LGBTQ must deal with from day to day. People that are gay, lesbian, bi, or whatever obviously feel very strongly about their sexuality otherwise they would not go through such great lengths to express it. It is basic to the rights of human nature to be able to express yourself, why should anyone be able to take that away from you? I am not trying to force people to understand or accept this, simply to let people be who they want to be. If you were gay or lesbian or bi or trans or questioning, wouldn't you want to be able to tell people? your parents? your friends? It is no one's right to prevent someone from expressing who they are. What does it matter anyways?

On a more personal note, and in all honesty, the presentation has made me realize, or rather forced me to reckon with, the injustice that I have been doing on my own. Too often have I misused words and joked about sexuality without regard to whom I may be affecting. For this, I truly feel awful. It just goes to show that one should always be considerate of the feelings of others, even if they are just joking around.