 |
| Image courtesy of www.brighton-pride.org |
Hello, you. My name is Luca but you can call me Luca. I just want to preface this by saying, I'm not part of the LGBT community but over the years, I've come to learn more about it and why it's necessary. As I grew up, I didn't know why people in the LGBT community had to come out, because I just saw them as any other people but having seen how the world is, I can safely say now that I know why.
This month is Pride month, and as ever, the bigots are out in force. As you've come to expect, and it's never any less disappointing to see them ever present, and it's the whole reason why Pride exists. This is what I didn't understand whilst growing up, the very reason why Pride exists is because of the pushback from these pieces of shit, who tell them that their existence is immoral.
Recently, there have been movies made on two homosexual icons, Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody and Elton John in Rocketman. Both films feature moments of kissing, sex scenes, but obviously between two men, and that is apparently too much for some people of this world. That if one of the two people in those scenes just so happened to be born with a vagina, then it would be okay.
In countries like China and Russia, a lot of both of these movies were heavily edited by national distributors due to "scenes containing homosexual propaganda". It's pathetic and I don't want anyone attempting to justify it by claiming that "we have to respect people's culture", when nobody in the right mind would defend any country's slavery and concentration camps. Okay I know it's a world of difference between not wanting to show scenes of a homosexual nature and literally hurting people, but it's born out of the same thing within these backward countries. Control.
So what's this hatred of homosexuality born out of? Well a lot of evangelicals in America claim it's because of "What is said in the Bible", but honestly as much as they claim to be holding a moral high ground with what is being said in the Bible, I seem to remember there also being a passage about stoning an adulterer and well, if the Evangelicals really wanted to hammer home the claim of homosexuality is a sin, they'll have to stone their beloved president.
With all this in mind, I recently heard about efforts being made to put together a straight version of Pride, which just has me rolling my eyes because having seen what LGBT people go through. Pride was never born out of a need to celebrate being gay, but out of their right to exist without persecution or ostracisation. LGBT people have to live looking over their shoulder incase someone sees them daring to love someone who is the same sex, who dare to have a brain that does not align with their body and thus are transitioning, who dare to want to live and be who they are.
I'm not saying straight people have it so easy in life but they don't have to hide that aspect of themselves since it's seen as the societal norm. We aren't living in fear of being assaulted by a bigot, or being rejected by our families for that reason, it's such a deep-rooted element of our society to see being LGBT as alien, and I don't see how.
Recently, an episode of Arthur was cut from Alabama networks because Arthur's male teacher was marrying another man, and this was apparently seen as obscenities and not appropriate for young audiences. Knowing Alabama, they probably replaced the man with the teacher's sister. SWEET HOME ALABAMA!!
But in all seriousness, I did recognise this only the other day. In a children's TV show, seeing a couple who just so happens to be two men or two women is equal to that of seeing an explicit sexual act being performed. That baffles me because, again like earlier with the Bohemian and Rocketman edited down versions, you could take one of the characters out, replace it with someone of the opposite sex and it would be fine.
It feels rather insulting to have your sexuality be seen as equal to that of literal intercourse as being "inappropriate for a young audience", when it's just two men or two women on screen not doing anything sexual. I think it's important for children to know there's nothing wrong with two consenting adults loving each other regardless of if they're a man or a woman, or two men, or two women.
This notion that homosexuality is a heinous act is kind of pathetic, and it's amazing to find people who see homosexuality as meaning automatically they're also pedophiles. Which brings me on to something I saw go down on Twitter, when the Catholic church released a statement condemning Pride and the LGBT community, advising everyone to steer clear of any Pride celebrations to prevent the children from getting hurt. When the Catholic church themselves are notorious for countless cases of Priests molesting kids, so a bit hypocritical on their part.
Even something as simple as having a couple who just so happens to be two men being seen in the background of an advert for a bank is enough to get people to think "It's being shoved down our throats" or "Political correctness gone mad", when really it's just showing that no matter who you are, you're accepted.
What really set me off is seeing how petulant some people have been in my main space on social media, motorsport. Recently, a scheme was launched called Racing Pride aimed at spearheading a campaign for LGBT inclusivity, and one of its ambassadors is W Series racer Sarah Moore (who is LGBT herself if you had not already guessed). However I found the ever present morons who seemed to miss the point or just outright shit on the idea.
One of the comments I saw made a point that I would have tried to calmly explain to them about if it weren't for the attitude they demonstrated. But regardless, they claimed it was divisive to put these people on a pedestal and talk about them just because of who they identify as and not because of outright ability.
This person has a slight point in the fact that motorsport doesn't take into account your gender, your skin colour, your religion, even if you're disabled, as long as you're good in a car, it shouldn't matter and they are right, it shouldn't. But there's nothing wrong with showing people of the world that none of it should matter, by - ironically, I am aware - pointing it out. There shouldn't be barriers anywhere in any walk of life just because of who you are.
Former Le Mans racer Danny Watts came out in 2017 as gay after retiring from motorsport. He claimed he couldn't be out whilst racing in all the countries he did since there were many bigoted places such as the Middle East and China, and remained in the closet. He always felt if who he was ever got revealed, his life would be ruined and he could be prosecuted.
It is still legal in many countries to either try to put an LGBT person through conversion therapy, or to kill them. This is why Pride exists, because it is not and will never be wrong of you to just be who you are.
I wish I could end this article off with some crumb of comfort towards anyone going through their own plight. I would say it gets better but I wouldn't know, just all I will say is all the best to those who live in a country that isn't accepting of the LGBT community, hope you are able to overcome your situation.
To anyone out there still infuriated by the existence of all this Pride stuff, and claiming to be on the receiving end of berating from those within the community, all I can say is that you're seeing an extreme end of the spectrum and all they should ask of you is to treat you like a person and they'll treat you with the same respect.
We are all children of this world, and whilst it's being ripped apart, what's wrong with trying to keep some of it together? It's not a crime to be who you are.
Thank you to all reading. If you liked what you see, either follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat or put your email address in the 'Follow By Email' option in the top right of your desktop screen. Hope to see you back here soon, except if you're a bigot. You all can fuck right off.
Until we meet again,
Luca.
