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I grew up in a very conservative, religious family with three sisters and as a result, my parents pushed me to play with “manly” toys such as male action figures and trucks and made sure I steered clear from anything that would make me seem “girly”, such as playing with barbies and playing dress up because they were afraid that I would be gay. Growing up, my family never talked about homesexuality because they didn’t want to give me any ideas. They were afraid if they talked about homosexuality, it would plant a seed in my head. As a result, until the middle school, I was very uneducated about homosexuality and very ignorant towards the gay community.
Even though homosexuality is becoming more open throughout the U.S, I believe that people still need to be educated and aware about homosexuality. I used to be very ignorant towards gay people at school just because they weren’t “normal.” As I was growing up, the media I was exposed to never publicized gay couples, when I saw gay couples in the halls, it was the first place I’ve ever seen or heard about homosexuality before. I believe that because as a child, I was so uneducated and clueless about the gay community that it turned into ignorance and disrespect towards them. But my views completely changed in middle school when I sat next to a girl that identified as LGBTQ. I became close friends with her until she came out to me that she was a lesbian and that was when I realized that what my parents and Church had taught me was wrong. The Church expected its students to follow its teachings such as following the “husband and wife” norm. It amazed me that someone that identified as something that was frowned upon by my parents could be so similar to me in ways such as my interests in music and video game. She also became a close friend to me because our personalities complimented each other. In the article What’ so bad about a boy who wears dresses, the author states “there have always been people that defy gender norms”, and this reveals that just because a person defies gender norms, doesn’t mean they aren’t a human being and can’t have normal interests too. Another person that has also impacted my life is my roommate here at UCSC, who is gay, and as I became closer to him, I asked him many questions about what his parents thought of his sexual orientation and many other questions because I have always been curious about homosexuality. A high percentage of people in the gay community goes through lots of mental stress because of “emotionally absent fathers or mothers who are hostile” towards the LGBTQ community (Padawer). He had to go through years of his parents mistrusting his opinions and other people treating him negatively and people looking at him funny just because of his sexual orientation. My roommate gave me his stories and experiences as someone who identifies as gay and it made me really understand the struggles he’ had to endure growing up in a strict asian family.
People are ignorant of what they don’t know and what they don’t understand. I was a prime example of that but as I came more knowledgeable about this subject, I also became much more supportive of the community. This topic is significant to me because I was against it as a child, but once I was educated and listened to the stories and experiences of my peers, my feelings and mindset completely flipped toward this subject and it made me want to change other people’ viewpoints like how mine is changed. The reason why I am interested in this topic is because I would like to learn about ways in which I can raise other people’ awareness and support of the growing LGBTQ community.