They feared. They cried. They pondered. Many homosexuals have conjectured why humanity has been incapable of acknowledging their life styles. Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, a young man who was brutally slaughtered for being gay reported, I believe that my son was killed because somehow, somewhere, his killers learned that the lives of gay people are not as worthy as respect, dignity and honor as the lives of other people.
Recently, in 2005 the Blockbuster Hit, Brokeback Mountain heightened the degree of hullabaloo in the Homosexual world. The true image that the movie tried to convey was the naïve love between two men, even though the movie served to be another cliché love story, the inimitable film truly serves as the epitome of such empowering love. At first, both men reject the idea of being queer, but later apprehended that love has no precincts. After the release of the movie, he media augmented the gay community, therefore society realized the degree of genuineness of such issue, thus ignited many people to select a stand on the issue: some may hate these people while others completely support them.
Until this day, I still bother to question myself, Why do people cause mischief to those who do not ask for it? Through out my life I have been harassed for something that I did not even know existed. I lived my life with fear of the actions from the ignorant society that I lived in. Day after day, I found myself being struck with ruthless words, gratuitous remarks that only deteriorated the purpose of living, and only because of the perception of my sexuality. As far as I can remember I was called a fag, a queer, or a sissy; and even though I was not well acquainted with the meaning of those words, I started to abide by them. Constantly, I hid in the bathroom stalls waiting for the bell to ring, so I could find some sanity back in the classroom where the teacher had control. There were occasions where I was humiliated inside the classroom, where everyone laughed. I blushed, and I tempered, but what I could possibly do? I had no real friends that could support me, nor did I have the physical and mental strength to stand up to such hypocrisy. Push after push, sock after school, love after love, mind over mind. School became a dichotomy- wanting and loving to learn, yet fearing the daily harassment and violence. I was chased from school and beat up nearly everyday of my elementary school life. I wouldnt fight back, hence I, from first hand experience, knew what and understood the underlying meaning of violence; however, bitterness became my friend. I secluded myself from the manly life, thus I was afraid of further interaction with the rest of the boys.
Violence against gay youth is not a myth, nor is it going away. Dr. Karen Franklin, a researcher on the causes of anti-gay violence, concludes from her study that the majority of young people who harass, bully and assault sexual minorities do not fit the stereotype of the hate-filled extremist. Rather, they are average young people who often do not see anything wrong with their behavior. And the reason they do not see anything wrong is simple-no one is telling them that it is wrong.
But what should we do? Should we continue the cycle of hatred, or impede to such inhumane measures? Now, I cannot speak for anyone else but myself, and I can truly testify to the simplicity that life should not be feared, but instead be glorified everyday.
