Prejudice and Stigmatism

This is from my blog on myspace

After I posted the last blog I kept thinking about the gay and lesbian community I know and why I probably feel as strongly as I do about equal rights without prejudice against sexual preference. I do know a large number of gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual people and I consider them friends. Some of my straight friends think it's weird, but they didn't choose their sexual preference anymore than I chose to have green eyes.

I keep thinking about last year when my car was stolen and it wasn't my straight friends making sure I had their number if I needed anything, it was gay guys and drag queens, some of whom I thought of as only casual aquaintances at the time. Since most of the people on my myspace friends list know me from my nightclub job, you'll notice the majority are gay, lesbian, or maybe you can't tell for sure. Most of them are people I have known for years. Some of the drag queens were still boys when I first met them and I can tell you they are more comfortable with themselves now than they were then. This is who they are and it's not for me or you to judge what is right as long as it doesn't adversely affect you. Allowing them to marry does not adversely affect you.

Over the weekend CNN had a special on HIV-AIDS with Bill Clinton as the featured speaker. He has chosen to use his connections and fundraising ability to call attention to, initiate, and facilitate education, prevention, diagnosis, and elimination of this disease above all else. One of the comments he made stayed with me and it is truly one of the most impactful and enduring statements I have ever heard regarding prejudice and stigmatism. If you are in favor of denying equal rights to any group of people I want you to think about this and see how it relates to you. It is applicable to any form of prejudice, but it was made in the context of the stigmatism against people infected with the HIV-AIDS virus.

As well as I can remember, Bill Clinton said, "Stigmatism and prejudice have no relation to the person being stigmatized, only to the one(s) holding it against them. Stigmatism and prejudice are rooted in fear and can only be eliminated by learning about what it is that causes the fear."

The next time you support a "morally conservative" (translation: prejudicial) issue, ask yourself what you are afraid of and see if you can still, with a clear conscience, support it.

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