The Thinking ‘Kat: LGBT
I have no qualms whatsoever about openly supporting the LGBT community. I personally know people who are in same-sex relationships, who are among the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. I can see no valid reason to practice homophobia or transphobia.
Down the years, I have had many debates with people who misguidedly believe that the LGBT community is chasing special rights, as opposed to equal rights. These people have never been able to justify their assertions, but this does not stop them from repeating this notion, over and over again. To some – usually of a deeply religious persuasion, though not always – the LGBT community is disgusting, icky, immoral etc, and it offends these people that the LGBT community is not treated as such.
What precisely is so horrible about granting the LGBT community the right to exist without persecution? Who is harmed by this? What evidence is there to support the oft-claimed slippery slope idea? One common attempt to demonise the LGBT community is to imply they are sexual deviants, and that there is a link between homosexuality and paedophilia. It is therefore quite ironic that whilst this misleading association is pedalled by the religious right, there are many pastors within various Christian denominations who have been convicted of various forms of sexual assault, including child abuse.
It could be worth the religious right sorting out its own house, so to speak, before casting so much judgement towards a community that does not impact their lives, or indeed the lives of anyone else, in any tangible manner.
