by Keith Hook

Created on: October 06, 2009

The real reason why people judge gays and lesbians is because we are all human and, thus, have human foibles. It's not so much as prejudice as it is a lack of understanding, a lack of the "unknown" which we cannot deal with. It might even be a case of not understanding that the world is filled with different people from ourselves. Whether we be black, white, male, female, gay or straight, that which is different usually scare us and our first reaction is to judge said different people.

However, I will say that there always seems to be only a one way street when it comes to any minority. There are gays and lesbians who have no tolerance for dissent or other people's opinions. That does not sound very enlightened to me. For example, just this past weekend, I was attending a street fair with my family when a young woman asked me to sign a petition that supported gay marriage and gay rights. When I politely told her I did not believe in her cause and, thus, was unwilling to sign her petition, she started to give me grief. She asked me if I was a homophobe and did I understand that there is "rampant" violence against gays and lesbians in this country. I asked her to provide me with specifics and I would look into it, since I had not heard of any violence "epidemic" going on throughout this country and, considering the liberal bent of the media, I am sure rampant violence against gays and lesbians would be front page news every single day.

Having thus blunted one of her arguments, she then proceeded to harangue me and call me a "Fox News watcher" and a "Rush Limbaugh lackey". I again, calmly, let her know that she did not know me whatsoever and that attacking me was not the way to get my support. Maybe my views were "unenlightened and not very progressive", but they were MY views and. just as she was entitled to her belief that gays and lesbians deserve equal treatment I was entitled to my views, based upon my own beliefs, that marriage should be between a man and a woman. I asked her if it was okay for me to have an opinion, even if it was different from her? I asked her if we could at least have a dialog about the issue, but she was uninterested. All she wanted to do was ram her agenda down my throat (no pun intended) and, when that did not work, she moved to harass another fair goer.

See, my point is, we all judge people. That may not be right, but it's the truth. Sure, someone is going to say that, me, as a middle aged, white male, could never understand prejudice, but the fact is, there are many members of the gay and lesbian community who are as intolerant of others as the "right wing radicals" they love to lampoon. In this particular incident that I described to you above, I showed no prejudice to the woman, yet was attacked no the less.

Maybe we could all do with a little more tolerance and a little less judgement? Hmmmmm?

Learn more about this author, Keith Hook.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.