Equality

                Today was a normal day, correct? Correct. But 5^th hour writing lab proved to be weird. Several students who I’m going to keep unnamed since this is a public blog, started having a conversation. Now normally, I try not to listen to the asinine things my classmates say. But this particular conversation struck a chord with me. Living in 2012 brings so many fabulous opportunities and horrible people. So what was things conversation about? To be blunt, it was about a specific student who happens to be a friend of mine and the fact that he happens to be gay.

                I’ll try as best as I can to keep their names a secret but I wanted to write this to get my point across. But here are the facts: I’m a girl. I happen to be lesbian. I happen to have a girlfriend. Is there something wrong with me because of this? No. And should you hate me because of this? No. So when this topic came up I instantly became defensive. And I was so close to jumping up, punching the kid and going on and on about how difficult it is to be different in that way.

                People always think of it as a choice, just how you choose your clothes every day. But it isn’t a choice, it’s just something you learn about yourself as you grow up. It’s a long process to accept and I took it down a dark path, but finally I realized that it was a part of me and that no matter how many times I hurt myself, it wouldn’t go away. I was bullied a lot because of it which made it even harder to accept. People need to be open and not hate others because they like something different.

                Now I understand that everyone has their own opinion, and I don’t want to tell anyone that their opinion is wrong—since it’s just an opinion. But I’d rather not feel offended because you think that my liking the same gender is wrong. Especially in school. And especially since almost everyone at my school knows this, they still tell me these things—and expect me to agree.

                Maybe it’s just me, but I think it would be a little hypocritical to say that when I am that. So I guess the whole point of this sort of essay is to just say this: Think before you speak. Because last year when I was getting called “Fag” and “Gay”, I didn’t know what to say so I took it out on myself. Now I have many comebacks for those sort of things. Mostly just smiling and walking away because kindness kills (Thank you Ashley for that piece of wisdom).