When we went to the Holocaust symposium and split up into our discussion groups, we had to go around in a circle and say our names and informally introduce ourselves. We then did some activities to reflect on our lives and see how many of us regarded stereotypes and stuff like that. The discussion leader would say a statement/question and if it applied to us we would stand up.
One of the questions was, "Have you ever been treated differently because of your gender, race, religion, or other?" A couple people stood up across the room and said why/how they had been discriminated against. One young man stood up and said that he was mistreated often because he was a homosexual. The whole group got so quiet when he said this, it was crazy! Just that one little sentence, and the huge affect it had on our little group! Needless to say, it really caused a stir and you could visibly see on people's faces if they were "o.k." with this or not.
Last Saturday night I went to the musical at Wilson with a friend of mine. We got our tickets and sat down and shortly after two young women sat down in front of us. In a very short time, it became obvious that they were lesbians. This didn't bother me at all, but it had a slightly different affect on my friend.
We're talking about treating people differently because of all their race, gender, religion, and all sorts of things, but we haven't talked about this. I think its because it is such a heated debate in our society right now.
What really makes me think is when this negativity towards homosexuals will be gone... Women had their movement, blacks had their movement, lots of races have endured discriminations and made it through, so when are we going to see this issue become just another list of prejudices of our past?
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