The selective "right" to "Be who we are".. Another lie from the "enlightened"
By ParaTed2k
@ParaTed2k (22940)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
September 28, 2011 4:27pm CST
Why is it that the GLBT crowd has some kind of "right" to be "who they are", but everyone else has to keep who we are to ourselves?
I keep hearing logical fallacy arguments for many social issues that are based on GLBT people having some "right" to "be who they are". At the same time, everyone else is expected to keep "who we are" to ourselves.
In the workplace, we're expected to "be professional", which means to keep our private lives private, and focus on doing our jobs. We can lose those jobs if we create a hostile work environment by being to open about our politics, religion, social activities or pretty much anything else.
In other words, when we're on company time, we're supposed to be our jobs, not ourselves.
But if a someone in the GLBT crowd wants to "be themselves", it doesn't matter how hostile the workplace becomes. In fact, the blame doesn't go to the person who couldn't keep their private life private, it falls on the person who expected them to be professional.
Even if it causes the business to lose money or customers, the employer is required to insist that employees and customers respect the "right" of the GLBT... even when no one else gets that "right".
It's just another example of "some people are more equal than others" and the blatant discrimination that is masked as the lie we call "equality".
3 responses
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
29 Sep 11
The rights can and should be equal. Just as you would feel comfortable saying to a coworker "My wife and I are going out for dinner tonight" a gay man should be able to say "My husband/boyfriend and I are going out to dinner tonight" without feeling afraid of a backlash. It's perfectly professional to say something like that. It would not, however, be professional if you went into detail about what you and your wife were planning to do because your mother was watching the kids that evening if your plans were to "take advantage" (if you get my drift) of your alone time, and nor should anyone have to listen to a gay or lesbian person get into that much intimate detail if it makes them uncomfortable.
The test should be:
If a straight person could make a comment about his/her personal life that the vast majority of people would find acceptable for the workplace, a gay person should be able to make a similar comment, with simply replacing the appropriate pronouns/nouns/whatever.
If it wouldn't be appropriate for a straight person to say it, it's not appropriate for a gay person, either, and that doesn't make the people around him/her homophobic, it simply means they want to keep the workplace professional.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
29 Sep 11
But that's not how the reality of it is. The reality is, a gay person can talk about how religious people discriminate against gay people, but if a religious person talks about anything religious, they are told to keep it to themselves.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
30 Sep 11
I've been fired from a job because I don't smoke. I've been told to "keep my religion to myself" when just talking about a church picnic when everyone else was talking about their weekend. It seemed talking about getting stoned was ok, but not a simple picnic that happened to be a church event.
Neither time did I feel like a "victim" mind you. I just bring them up as examples.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
29 Sep 11
That's sad. That's not how it is where I work. We talk about religion all the time. In fact, despite being non-religious, I constantly ask religious people questions about their beliefs (in an honest way, not a mocking one like some people do) if they are comfortable answering my questions. It's just because I'm fascinated by all the different religions, and even all the different ways people in the same religion (even in a same family in the same religion) feel about small details.
My religious coworkers indulge me, and I think enjoy the conversations also.
I don't like people who try to convert me, but if we're talking about something and, for example, you say "that's why the Mormon faith is so great, because it allows us to... or because it teaches us that..." well, that's not offensive to me, and shouldn't be offensive to anyone else.
I think you experience this kind of dislike of your religion a little more than other people because I know there is backlash against the LDS church.
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
28 Sep 11
That reminds me of the student who wore a "proud to be straight" tshirt to school and was forced to remove it because it might "offend" a GLBT student. It's fine with me whoever or whatever someone is as long as they don't infringe on other peoples' rights. But it seems that people no longer want "equal" rights, they want special rights.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
29 Sep 11
That's another selective "right". The "right" to offend and not be offended.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
29 Sep 11
I would defend anyone's right to wear a "proud to be straight" t shirt. That's ridiculous!
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
29 Sep 11
*ridiculous that a student would be told not to wear one.
@urbandekay (18278)
•
30 Sep 11
Aye and what of the right of a culture to enforce its normative values even if those normative values include a taboo against homosexuality?
all the best urban
