Sarah McMahon Race, Class, and Gender in America Cordonnier March 29, 2012 Ism paper

We have heard of Heterosexism, where people who are heterosexual think that they are better than people who are LGBT, but have you ever heard of Homosexism? This is where people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning discriminate people who are heterosexual. I think this is unacceptable and it needs to stop because people of the LGBT community will never get the respect that they want if they show the same discrimination that they are fighting against. In my gay straight alliance there was a good bit of discussion of things that happened in the classroom setting that discriminated LGBT people. We would then start to say things to retaliate against the discrimination. When people were upset about the phrase thats so gay used in school they all proposed to start using thats so straight as a combatant saying. I did agree to this at first, until I looked at what was really happening. By taking a step back I got to see that while this statement seemed to be a unique way to battle a statement that was offensive to the LGBT community it could have been taken offensively to people who are heterosexual.

When I found that out I started looking and listening to what my club was saying in a more subjective way. I found that almost everything we were saying to fight against LGBT discrimination was a anti heterosexual statement. I then began questioning why we were saying these things and how we could stop these anti heterosexual statements. How could we turn statements from ew straight people to something that was non-discriminating? I found that this was not a hard thing to do when you look at what you saying through another persons eyes. If I think about my statements before I say them they are not going to be offensive to either the LGBT or the heterosexual communities. I found out that this is much harder to say to someone who did not grow up in a mainly biased heterosexual community. Why is it that people in the LGBT community didnt understand that what they were saying was a form of homosexism? I think that people who are part of a minority dont think they can discriminate against the majority. Anyone in the LGBT community can say something like straight people dont belong here or ew I dont want to be around straight people just because we are a minority doesnt mean that saying these things isnt discrimination. This doesnt just work with people who are in the LGBT community; this works with all of the minority groups. Any one from a homosexual, to someone who is an immigrant, to someone who is a different religion can discriminate. Most people either ignore when someone from a minority discriminates a person from the majority because they think it ok because they are fighting for their rights. I disagree with this

Someone who fights for his or her right is someone who will wright a sign that talks about them being oppressed in a non-violent and respectful way, not something that hurts or attacks the oppressor. Though we do need to cross boundaries we dont need to do so in a hurtful fashion. I think that the only way to fix this problem is by doing thing like writing letters and making signs. Not by making discriminative comments towards our aggressor. Gandhi was one of the best protesters, he was peaceful and calm when talking to the aggressors, no matter how angry they got. He would sit and talk in a soft tone while they would yell at him. He got an enormous amount of things done for his cause and he is still remembered today for all of the things he did. Why wouldnt we want to be like Gandhi? To review, we should be careful about what we say to our oppressor, weather it be about race, class, or sexual preference. Next time you are about to say something about a majority or an oppressor think to yourself, would this be something I would want to be said to me or the group of people I belong to? if the answer is no dont say it, regardless of what company your around. Like Gandhi said It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their fellow beings. We should all follow these words weather as the majority or minority, but especially as a minority because it is easier to win with peaceful disagreements than by force when battling a larger object.

Works Cited BrainyQuote. Xplore. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html>. "Gandhi - Biography of Mahatma Gandhi." About.com 20th Century History. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/gandhi.htm>. "Pennsbury School District." Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://www.pennsbury.k12.pa.us/pennsbury/PHS/Quick%20Links/PHS%20Activi ties/Humanities/>.