Robert Vilde<\/p>\n
\n
Imagine walking down the street with that special someone, holding hands and chatting Maybe you just happen to be one of the 1 out of every 10 people on this planet who is born LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender). This scenario is a fact of life for Many Canadians, including NT students, love to preach how enlightened and liberal our society is. They like to believe that discrimination and bigotry don\u2019t exist in a western country like Canada and that legalising gay marriage ended homophobia forever. This is simple ignorance. These are people who have never once been looked down upon This makes me wonder how many people contemplate punching my boyfriend or I when we pass them on the street. It\u2019s troubling to thinkthat every time I know of at least two gay teens that have faced severe physical and verbal abuse for being out of the closet at the wrong high school. In one case, the teachers Now if you\u2019re thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s never happened at NT\u201d, your right. But how many openly The only way we will ever reach equality is if people in the LGBT community lose the veil of fear that covers them when they consider how others perceive their sexual Robert Vilde Imagine walking down the street with that special someone, holding hands and chatting about nothing on your way home, when out of the corner of your eye a guy gives you a dirty look and snarls at you … Continue reading
\nabout nothing on your way home, when out of the corner of your eye a guy gives
\nyou a dirty look and snarls at you as you pass. You ignore him and continue
\nwalking, but an elderly man carrying several grocery bags does the same, his wide
\neyes glaring at you as if you were the scum of the earth. You think to yourself,
\n\u201cwow is my hair that<\/em> ugly today?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nsame-sex couples. They never are able to so much as hold hands without facing the
\nscorn and torment or even threats and physical violence.<\/p>\n
\nfor their religion, race or sexual orientation; they find it difficult to
\ncomprehend that others are not so lucky. In the real world, reports of hate
\ncrimes towards LGBT people continue to increase. About 75% of hate crime today
\nis directed towards gay or transsexual individuals.<\/p>\n
\nyou\u2019re out with your partner you might get beat up or called a \u201cfag\u201d. Those who
\nare more subtly homophobic are worse, though. They enforce a double standard,
\nsaying,\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with gay people, as long as they\u2019re not to flamboyant about it and keep it to themselves,\u201d but they don\u2019t hold themselves to this same standard. I\u2019ve never heard of a straight person who doesn\u2019t introduce their wife or girlfriend to their friends for fear of being too flamboyant about their heterosexuality, nor have I met a group of straight guys who don\u2019t like to talk about girls they want to hook up with.<\/p>\n
\nparticipated in the bullying and the administration, either due to ineptitude
\nor apathy, did nothing about it. In both cases, the bullying led to severe
\ndepression and total helplessness, to the point where they both transferred to
\ndifferent high schools to escape the abuse they faced. How many more people
\nlike them are there? More importantly, how many LGBT teens don\u2019t make it to
\nadulthood because of bullying at home or at school? How many end up like Jamey
\nHubley, a gay 15 year old Ottawa boy who recently committed suicide due to the
\nconstant bullying he faced at school from his peers?<\/p>\n
\nLGBT people are there at North Toronto? I can\u2019t even think of five who are open
\nabout their sexuality, but there are over 1200 students. Since 10% of the
\npopulation is gay, this statistic alone should raise eyebrows. Before I came
\nout, I remember constantly worrying that when anyone at school found out I was
\ngay they would hate me and avoid me. Every day I would hear homophobic jokes
\nand comments, and though they seemed harmless to everyone else, they pushed me deeper into depression. I hated myself for being gay and wished I could have been born
\nstraight. Eventually, I worked up the courage to come out to my friends and
\nfamily and once it was done it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my
\nshoulders. I didn\u2019t have to live a lie any longer. About a month later, in July,
\nI came out on Facebook to get it over with, and so that people would stop
\nawkwardly asking me about my sexuality. Almost two years later, I can honestly
\nsay that coming out was a good choice; I can finally be myself.<\/p>\n
\norientation. Honestly, don\u2019t waste your time trying to appease people around
\nyou, because nothing they say is going to change who you are. When someone
\nstares or calls you a \u201cfag\u201d, wear it as a badge of honour and don\u2019t give in to
\nfear, simply give them that cold hard stare right back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"