What? TMI? Well, excuse me, but since every day some “celebrity”
has been coming out as gay, I just assumed that we were ALL sharing what
happens behind closed doors. Well, in
that case, shhhh shhhh…..DISREGARD! DISREGARD!
But seriously, some country singer named Ty Herndon just came out a
couple of days ago. First of all, I don’t
even know him, ergo, he CANNOT be that important. Second of all, isn’t that something you tell
a love interest? What is going on in this
world that every gay person feels compelled to tell everybody in the entire
world that he or she is gay? Sure some
people care a great deal, but the majority of us really could care less.
Here’s why I don’t care.
Well, mostly because I have no clue who the heck this Ty person is. It could be because I like country music as
much as I like going to the dentist. Maybe
if it was Taylor Swift, since she is such a huge country pop star! And just like Jason Collins, if you are
supposedly talented, do you want to be known or remembered just for being gay? Jason Collins recently retired, and my son mentioned
that most of the clips shown for the story were primarily from practice. His basketball career wasn’t even
consequential enough to make a proper story.
Ergo, he is no Michael Jordan.
Okay fine, they all cannot be Michael Jordan; but he wasn’t even Patrick
Ewing.
Secondly, most of us, even those who were raised thinking that it was
the biggest sin in the Universe, don’t see it as a big deal anymore. I personally don’t see it as a sin, or a
lifestyle or a personal choice. It is
just one of those things that just is, but really I don’t care.
Thirdly, that battle has been won!!! Just like many people wrongfully think that
racism no longer exists, gays don’t have to come out of the closet
anymore. They don’t have to stay in the
closet either. They are just free to be
who they are. It is widely accepted to
respect and accept them, especially if you want to keep your job…..or your TV
show.
I guess what I don’t get is this.
Why fight for equality and then when you get it, you still act like
something ‘different’ is occurring? Gay
people………do you want to make your gayness a big deal or not because I’m really
confused at this point. And that is one
of the reasons why I love me some Queen Latifah. She doesn’t make her color, gender or sexuality
an issue. Yes, we can see that she is Black. Yes we can see that she is a woman (well
nowadays). And yes, many will keep
wondering if she is gay or not. But she
doesn’t make that her problem. She just
keeps doing her thing. The gay community
NEEDS to take a page or two out of the Queen’s book.
Nobody cares, especially if we don’t even know you! And of course I’m using hyperbole here because
there are many in the Christian community who still think that it is their job
to viciously speak out against others’ sexuality. I don’t get how other’s sexuality is their
business; but that’s none of my business.
But you are not going to win them all.
If there ever comes a time when the Black community is given the respect
and acceptance that the gay community receives, we will have to be mindful that
it will NEVER come from everyone, especially white supremacists. So, it doesn’t matter who or what you are,
you will never win them all.
Coincidentally, I was just reading an article about the coming out
of Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, in which the author commented that although he did
not receive any backlash or negativity for coming out, many of the people who
posted comments stated that he should get over it because nobody cares. The author continued that the reason why
people should care is because there are 77 countries that still don’t accept homosexuality,
so it was good that someone of Tim Cook’s stature could be a good role model
for young, gay people. I’m paraphrasing
here because I just perused the article, but you get the drift.
However, this is my take on it.
We should not be pointing out every single difference in everyone just
so people can be treated the same. In other
words, does Justice Clarence Thomas have to disrobe and show all his tattoos
for us to accept the tattoos on basketball players, pop singers and bikers? (Like we would be able to make out his
tattoos!) Or does Hillary Clinton have
to remove her pant suits and expose her body piercings for us to accept that?
The problem with individualizing every bigotry is that it leads to
more problems. So some white people get
upset because there is a Black History Month.
Where is their month, they ask?
Of course the reason behind Black History Month probably made sense to
those who fought for it. Blacks were
marginalized, so they thought if they got one month just to focus on them, that
would help. Then there had to be a National
Hispanic Heritage Month; now there is an Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.
I’m so glad that my children are no longer in elementary school because
if I had to see one more picture of Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King, Jr
that somebody had to color, I was just going to scream. How about this? How about instead of teaching about the same
two people every February, why not incorporate the history of Black people into
American History. Why have a Hispanic
month to showcase the accomplishments of a chosen few? Instead, incorporate the accomplishments of the many
Hispanics that contributed to this country into American History. The
history of Asian-Pacifics and Native Americans should be widely included as
that of Christopher Columbus and his band of thieves.
It shouldn’t have to depend on someone of ‘high’ stature to do
something or be something for us to accept it.
If we preach, teach and practice equality for all, then we wouldn’t be
wasting precious time pointing out everyone’s differences. There are only twelve months in the year,
therefore there is no room to highlight the quadriplegic, autistic, transvestite
albino. Let’s just treat him as a person
EVERYDAY!
And with that, I’m just perspectively speaking.
