Every time I come on to Y! Answers, I'm shocked by the amount of hatred there is within the LGTB / culture section. There is only so many times I can attempt to "explain" to heterosexual (and often homophobic) individuals that I didn't "choose" to be gay, and that I'm not going to burn in hell. I see too that a lot of gay people fire back angry responses (which I totally understand... I sometimes do the same thing). I know it all comes down to education and awareness, and unfortunately, I can't imagine that the stigmas ever disappear, but how should we, as a LGTB community, respond to this hatred? Is it best to ignore it? Is it best to fight back and show OUR hatred? Is there ANYTHING we can do to make this place a more understanding place to visit, or is this a lost cause? Let's try to work together people: maybe then we will be heard?
2007-01-31 07:47:50 · 16 answers · asked by trailangel 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
ignore and report the haters
but stick around and help the nice people
2007-01-31 07:51:49 · answer #1 · answered by Tegarst 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
EXCELLENT question and explanation. I've wondered too what we can and should do. The angry messages we return defeat the purpose because it only fuels the fire. Ignoring them isn't educating them. And being patient is getting old! It's too bad we can't get the entire GLBT community to come up with a succinct response that we ALL respond with to the haters. There are legitimate questions out there and weeding those from the haters (LuLu, for example) is time consuming and probably not profitable. I wish I had an answer...never have I felt more defensive about being gay as I do on this site.
2007-01-31 08:09:20 · answer #2 · answered by behrmark 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yahoo is a lost cause. Any completely public forum on the internet is a lost cause. In person, you might actually be able to get through to people, and there are other parts of the internet (some message boards etc) where the members really are more of a community, and most of them know each other, and rational discussion is an option there. But YA is just a trainwreck to watch whenever you feel like it.
2007-01-31 13:29:07 · answer #3 · answered by Atropis 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know it's easy to get discouraged, but progress is being made. In Maryland we got the Medical Decision Making Act passed, as well as a anti-bullying law that specifically includes gay youth. Last year, we stopped an attempt to put an amendment in the constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, and a few years ago, added sexual orientation to the civil rights law.
Don't give up.
2007-01-31 07:54:46 · answer #4 · answered by Robin W 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
INTERNET RULES:
1. DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!
2. Don't expect to teach anyone anything they don't want to know over the internet. It's good for networking and meeting new avatars, but horrible for educating people that don't want to know something.
3. DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!
2007-01-31 09:08:21 · answer #5 · answered by carora13 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go with the advice from Tegarst. Ignore and report is probably the best.
If you remember that the people are doing it to inflame, then it is easier to accept. And ignoring is harder to do sometimes
2007-01-31 08:03:40 · answer #6 · answered by Tikhacoffee/MisterMoo 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Honey, I don't hate you, I love you. I might disagree with your lifestyle and you're never going to convince me otherwise but I don't hate you. You're a human being just like me.
You have to be who you are and be happy who you are. You are not going to convince straight people that you were born gay, I don't care if you try to explain until you're blue in the face but in the end...who gives a phuck what we think. You live in a free country and what you do with your life is your business. I might disagree but it's still your life.
2007-01-31 08:42:48 · answer #7 · answered by huckleberry 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
we are being heard...most of the hatred on here is from children or from people with the IQ of a paperclip...intelligent people listen to different answers before forming an opinion.
2007-01-31 07:55:59 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
am heterosexual but i hope you don't mind me answering
once a dear friend who happened to be gay told me something
in order to face such homophobic ppl
"your acceptance would be nice but not essential or necessary "
i advice you to do the same :)
2007-01-31 08:02:53 · answer #9 · answered by going-to-light 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why aren't you understanding of their homophobia? You say you'd appreciate understanding from them, but it goes both ways. Not everyone is going to approve of or understand your lifestyle...
2007-01-31 08:06:31 · answer #10 · answered by sillycanuckpei 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋