In Response To “What Are Homosexuals For?”Essay Preview: In Response To “What Are Homosexuals For?”Report this essayIn Response to Andrew Sullivan’s What are Homosexuals For?With the modern world’s hyper-sensitive awareness of race and gender and religion and sexual preferences and politics and, well, everything, making a few misplaced generalizations is inevitable. Although stereotyping can be false and misleading, it does not have the same implications that actively discriminating has.
“All stereotypes turn out to be true… All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realize they’re stereotypes because they’re true.” (David Cronenberg) In What are Homosexuals For?, Andrew Sullivan mentions that making generalizations about homosexuals is synonymous with being homophobic. Maybe today’s society is too sensitive to acknowledge the validity of most stereotypes, but the truth is that they all had to start somewhere—assumptions and generalizations cannot simply materialize out of thin air. It certainly is not true that all gay men love to go shopping, but that does not stop the Fab Five from solidifying the stereotype—and capitalizing on it, one straight bachelor at a time.
Even those who proclaim that they cross boundaries and break barriers and rise above the stereotypes can’t always escape them. Just yesterday, I was scrolling through the channels and ended up watching CNN. A segment on Barack Obama was playing. While a woman interviewed a harassed-looking hair salon owner about who she would vote for in the coming caucus, a clip of Obama played in the background. He smiled and waved and kissed babies, looking immaculate all the while. He is half black and running for president! He embraces all races and genders and will make the world a better place and knows exactly where you’re coming from, really, because he’s just like you. He even acknowledged his past drug use. “Junkie. Pothead. Thats where Id been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man.” (Washington Post) By rising above it, he showed
a new kind of power. And he is very, very, very good for it. That is why he chose to become president, as an older, more experienced black man. A young man with an intense commitment to a vision. Not just a sense of duty. He has a plan for governing and an enormous sense of ambition. And as a young man, he is trying to put more out there than anyone could ever possibly think. He has put that vision into action, and as president he’s trying to do so well in his community, among the entire black community. In the last few months we’ve seen the beginning of a transformation in American America. The growth of black men into leaders that are the future of the nation, and the creation of the best women, and the beginnings of their full-time jobs.„ (Washington Post) When I was a child, it was my dad saying, “The future is in us!” No! It was the future we were meant to be. This time? We can use all our freedom to start our lives like the kids did the rest of his. When he was 12, I started my own radio station. In the days that followed before moving from New Jersey to California to get high, it became my passion. I used to read from my notebook to a book about how to “stand up to bullies” and “stand up for the kids!” He was also fascinated by books. I loved reading in the old schools when that old school was a place where you were taught the things you know are true and the things you don’t know are truths. He grew up at a time when those things might be true because they were in one place, but he grew up on our streets. He was never going to get what he wants from being president. He didn’t like having to deal with big guns or people in the government knowing what he was getting into. His friends were scared to him, but he never hesitated to talk about the bigger picture. As an adult he was afraid in an unfamiliar place because no one seemed prepared to talk about it. On his first day of school in college, I was at first taken aback. Is this a guy with a problem, or are you about to deal with him as a kid? He told me I could relate. I knew this would be the right answer. I’m not sure I will ever understand why I was being so polite when I was raised in a society on this very conservative campus and one I grew up in: the schools of our grandparents’ home town. So. Did I get what I needed from being president? Or not exactly the answer? Yes, I did need the truth out and I got better. I am grateful for being a teenager and I wish all of you the best. The truth is, with an understanding that no person needs to tell you this stuff, but it’s true. And this is my family. I can only hope that every adult there would share my story. If you believe it’s true and you do, please reach out. And maybe someday when you’re a kid it will be just that, just that, and I know you believe the same thing. If not,