You know, I think it's great that more and more straight people are troubled by homophobia and are speaking out about it. As I said in response to an essay a friend of a friend wrote, after years of feeling like a target it's nice to feel like more and more straight people have our backs and we can take a breath.
At the same time, there is something in your post that is kind of bugging me. A straight person telling a gay person that it's sad for them to downplay the issue of gay rights is really patronizing. First, I don't believe concupisys was downplaying anything. I think he was just recognizing that changing societies does take time. The world feels vastly different to me now with regard to gay rights than it did when I was 18. When you spend a large part of your life, if not all of it, having society shit all over you, you learn to appreciate progress even if you know you have much farther to go. It's very easy for you to tell us we should want more when you haven't suffered through the bad. I don't know what it's like for a person of color, or a woman, or a trans* person, and so on and I would never presume to make a remark like that to any of them.
Please don't get me wrong. I'm glad you want bigger and faster steps and that you're willing to say it. I wish there had been more straight guys like you when I was younger. But you also have to understand that this isn't just a cause we're signing up for and if it seems like we aren't demanding enough, it's mainly because people in power have made sure to keep that bar as low as possible for a very long time.
I get what you're saying. It did feel weird for me to even write that to a gay person, and I did wonder if it was kinda out of line.
It's not that I'm demanding that the "gay community" stands up and fights at all times. I do understand that a sigh of relief over the fact that we have actually come this far is needed now and then, and that gays can get sick and tired of having to stand up for a political cause that's so rational and logical that the fight against it is a downright insult.
I do not pretend to speak for the LGBT community. I would never claim to know the struggle they've had to go through, and still have to go through. And I am not prepared to lecture anyone on how they should handle a situation that I cannot possibly understand. But I am at all times prepared to speak up against bigotry, and it pisses me off that people are clinging to beliefs that I consider to be in violation with the human rights.
I do not speak on behalf of anyone, I speak only from a personal, political point of view. That's why I decided that it shouldn't matter to whom I express this point of view. But like I said, I do get your point.
The reason I reacted was the "at least it's not the 1950's" comment. That's the comment that made me think that he was downplaying the problem. 'Cause in many places (not only geographically speaking, but demographically as well), it
is still the 1950's (at best). That's not to say that we shouldn't be happy by the progress that's been made in certain areas.