I am also infuriated by the ignorance of homophobic individuals. As I hope
[ have illustrated, coming to terms with being gay is a very difficult process.
Without homophobia, simple realities such as being different than so many around
you, the inability to produce natural children, the relatively small number of others
like you make accepting one’s non-heterosexual orientation difficult. Queer
adolescents do not need the added barrage of insults from homophobes who are
uncomfortable with people of their gender being attracted to them or who are
uncomfortable with people who don’t fit rigid gender stereotypes or who just want
to hate people different than themselves. Gay people grow up as strangers in their
own families, and they don’t need additional shit from the outside world. I think if
we are all more sensitive to the plight of frightened gay adolescents, we might |

permit them to stop hating themselves.
How can we do it here at Haverford and everywhere else?

_- don’t assume everyone is straight, everyone is not, so don’t assume it -- you
never know who might be queer

-- respect couples based on the quality of their relationships and not the gender of
the people in it |

-- don’t perpetuate rigid stereotypes about the sexes -- regardless of whether the
stereotypes fit individual queers, they generally make queers feel uncomfortable
because certainly their sexuality does not fit the stereotype of their gender

_-- give a shit that people are discriminated against because of who they love

-- respond when people make insensitive remarks about gay people -- think about
why gay people might make some straight people uncomfortable

-- don’t be scared that people are going to think you're gay; it heightens the sense
that being gay is something scary