This week, social media has been buzzing with the age-old controversial matter of some public figures who have decided to "come out".
Actress Ellen Page's inspirational and emotional speech is doing the rounds on Facebook...
and Michael Sam, to name but a few...
...of the many celebrities who, despite living in modern and civilized societies, still feel the need to announce their sexual preferences in public. It's as if these people have something criminal to confess. They haven't.
This troubles me. A great deal.
Why should anyone, celebrity or not, feel the need to inform the public of their intimate preferences? Is it any one's business?
Why should so many organizations and pressure groups protect and promote the rights of so many minority groups at the expense of other just-as-worthy causes?
Surely, the better option is for all rights groups to merge and work together for the common good.
Strength in numbers.
After all, human rights issues should not be fragmented, diluted, dispersed and separated form each other. We should join forces with all rights groups and create one, multifaceted global movement to promote Human Rights. Unconditional human rights.
We already have the International Court Of Human Rights in Geneva. An organization that would undoubtedly welcome the "coming together" instead of the "coming out" of all human rights pressure groups.
Better still, all Human and Animal Rights.
The rights of gay and lesbian people are no more important than starving children's rights. Or the absent rights of millions of women and children displaced by wars caused by avaricious and megalomaniac men.
How about the rights, or lack of, of so many young girls in cultures that award them less rights than livestock?
Should anyone be so single-minded as to fight against inequality of one kind and not the other? Isn't that promoting a shattered society? Care for some but not for the masses?
If I were a celebrity would I need to announce my preferences in public? Would I need to pronounce my undying preference for women? Especially beautiful ones? Petite and feminine? Hell, no. It would bore the pants off most people if I did so.
But since they're all at it, I may as well come out and show you a photo of my unerring preference...
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| Tania, a friend from Madeira, graciously exhibits all of my preferences |
The danger I foresee with this "coming out" modern phenomena is the marginalization and trivialization of other serious human conditions.
Let's all get together for the rights of all creatures who inhabit our wonderful and diverse planet.
And as the title suggests, Actions Speak Louder Than Words
I'd appreciate your views on this subject - please leave a comment.
Thanks
:)
I fully agree with your stance on this matter. Perhaps some of the 'blame' falls on the media who seem to relish reporting such declarations. Why do they make it such a big thing?
ReplyDeleteWhat about the thousands of homosexuals getting together and bombarding the newspapers and other media with 'coming out' statements? A kind of 'denial of service' that can shut down a website if the incoming traffic is too much for it to cope with.
OK, this is not going to happen, but it's a thought.
Phil
Hi Philip, Gay rights, like any other human rights, should be granted by all decent societies, automatically, without the need for protests.
DeleteIn theory you're right, but in practice homosexuality acquires greater social acceptance whenever a famous gay person 'comes out'. If a much admired celebrity is gay, it makes life easier for all gay people.
ReplyDeleteAs for Ellen Page, is she really 100% gay? I think a man of your appreciation should try to convince her she's bisexual. How did you become friends with Tania?
GB, I'd love the opportunity to try and convince the lovely Ms Page...
DeleteTania and I worked together back in Madeira, and she is...delightful in every way. I wrote a post about her while over there. Here's the link if you wish to peruse :) http://joesgossip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/100-words-beauty.html
In some ways, I think a media darling coming out is sort of like an individual of a different skin tone moving into a predominately white neighborhood, or a woman being allowed to vote; it's sort of titillating and shocking in current social construct of reality, but, in few years, it'll be part of the paradigm.
ReplyDeleteI hope it pans out that way Robbie, as I am becoming complacent, or even bored, with this unsolicited display of openness by celebs
ReplyDeleteMy guess is, Joe, that if you spent your entire life with people thinking you were homosexual--all through school talking with your friends about what boy is cute, you mom getting excited and asking when you are going to settle down with a nice boy and start a family, your friends wondering why you don't ask out that cute guy in your office, everyone questioning your every move right down to how you wear your jeans--that at some point in your life you might feel the need to state that you are, in fact, heterosexual. I might also guess that if you were a public person, and all of these assumptions about you were made ad nauseum in magazines, you might even someday make a PUBLIC statement about it. Should she, or anyone, *have* to say it in a today's world? No. But our society is not nearly as open and accepting as it should be. I applaud her for stopping what she so eloquently called her "lies of omission". It's no body's business but hers, but every time someone like her has the bravery to make such a statement, they inch us closer to a world where no one will make assumptions about the people we can and can't love. And I, for one, think that's wonderful and admirable. :)
ReplyDeleteHi MC, I guess when I say I'm getting tired of people coming out I'm actually making a statement on being tired of there being a necessity for this kind of disclosure. I just wish society evolved at a much faster pace. Equality for all, and NOW :)
DeleteBeing straight is the default position, so I would guess that if you're gay, people might assume you're straight and treat you accordingly by trying to set you up on dates with people of the opposite sex, telling you homophobic jokes, and even soliciting your friendship only to dump you when they find out that you're gay. Being an atheist in a country where such people are rare, I think I understand why someone would want their sexual identity known. Being a believer (or a heterosexual) isn't a big deal here because, as I said, it's the default position. Being gay or atheist is something that can bring shit down onto your head, so it seems better to make it public rather than have people assume you're something that you're not and treat you one way at first and quite another way when they find out. Going public gets at least some of the problem out of the way upfront, and it also puts you in a better position to support people who are like yourself
ReplyDeleteSnow, as in my reply to MC, I'm tired of there being a need in our society for such public statements. But I understand your view :)
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