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| Two alleged homosexuals being hanged in the Middle East |
The main reason for me writing this post is because it's too easy to moan you have it worse off than the next person. It may be true, but sticking to that point and not moving forward is something that annoys me quite considerably. I'm not saying I have it worse off than people in Iran, and I'm not saying that the levels of homophobia they suffer are any more important than in the West. However, what I am saying is that any homophobia, anywhere, on any scale, must be called out and acted upon.
The LGBT community is not a giant competition to see who's suffering the most. Looking for sympathy whilst telling someone in another country that homophobia doesn't exist is not something that will get you closer to changing the situation you're in.
To make my point clear, and not to seem like a total idiot to those of you who are feeling a bit lost, this post was inspired by a reader on a post I published when I lost my job because my boss crossed me in the street while I was holding my boyfriend's hand. The reader in question criticized my writing, saying I thought I had it worse off than people in Middle Eastern countries who are hunted down, beaten to death with metal piping, have their heads smashed in with concrete blocks and hanged. At no point in my post did I mention the Middle East. However, I'm not writing this post because I felt it was important to respond to a troll, it's just because I suffered from homophobia when I lost my job. Sure, I wasn't murdered or raped by a bunch of radical religious fanatics, but it was still homophobia.
Being the founder and an author on the internet's largest QUILTBAG opinion collab blog, I'm well aware of the various levels of violence towards LGBT people around the world. The difference is that I try and make a change. After reading this post of mine last May, you raised over $350 to help save LGBT Iraqis who were being denounced by their own families and hunted down on kill lists. I was one of the few people posting articles about the growing homophobia in Russia over two years ago, even before other LGBT news outlets had made it a big topic. It's only with Sotchi 2014 approaching that the media have started to pay attention. But it's not now that we must pay attention to Russia. They won't attempt to pass any bills now with the Olympics coming up. It's only once the Olympics are over and the television cameras and journalists of the world go home that we must pay attention.
Clearly, I felt insulted and reading the comment this reader left me made me a bit angry. My activism doesn't stop at webpages, but continues in the streets of France. Last year I founded and presided my city's only LGBT youth activism organisation to fight homophobia, raise awareness about homophobia in other countries like Russia and demand equal rights. I got egged (sure, they weren't stones) on a few occasions and insulted in the street by random passers-by. Those who know me, would tell you I spend too much time trying to make a difference. And that's the point. This reader didn't know me, hadn't read my previous posts and didn't know what I do. So why care?
I don't. On the other hand, I do care about looking for sympathy by claiming someone is better off than you. There's always someone in the world in a worse situation, and homophobia on any and every scale must be called out. Otherwise we can never hope to make a difference in this world. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. Homophobia is certainly becoming rarer in France now that marriage equality has been passed, but it still lingers in the shadows. It's definitely on the rise in Russia, the Middle East, and in some South American countries things aren't getting any better.
We all have to fight homophobia together. We have to be united or we can never hope to get anywhere. We have to work together to change peoples' mentalities and it takes time. Looking for sympathy doesn't get you any closer to the light at the end of the tunnel!
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