This is an off the cuff piece of writing but I believe I hold some validity based on experience. I may not reference psychological texts such as the DSM-II, but the sentiment persists and is as real as the tendencies of the general population.

“Tolerance”. A word used with exhaustion to describe how we treat human beings that have sex with human beings of the same gender (and a slew of other sexual behaviours and identities not in alignment with MY “normalcy”). “Tolerance” stands for your right to only occasionally spit “faggot!” in a homosexual’s face and quickly recoil with, “just kidding, I’m egalitarian”. “Tolerance”, the idea that homosexuality is, by default, wrong, but “we’ll let it slide since we’re morally superior”. Even faggots have resorted to using the word “faggot” to alleviate the social pressure that commands only heavy-voiced straight acting men dominate the social landscape. I’m not referring to homonormative ideation; I’m referring to heteronormative standards.

NOTE: I have issue with conceptualizations of homonormative. I find them as nebulous as sexuality is. The United States happens to exacerbate the concept more so than Canada.

Why haven’t I simply moved on from “Tolerance”? Why can’t I accept my place as being tolerated?

To begin with, it’s a term thrown around to this day to supplant what should be “acceptance”. LGBTQ people are not aberrations on the social spectrum that need special love or to be “put up with” as if they were toys we just don’t like. Imagine asking LGTBQ identified people to “tolerate” straight people. A crude reversal of the roles, but metaphors just can’t seem to capture the question accurately.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m saying that LGTBQ individuals are still stuck in the “friend zone” in the world at large. Religion, society, politics, and pop-culture still treat LGTBQ individuals as things to be tolerated. Where is the insult in calling someone “straight” or “heterosexual”? I don’t even think “homophobe” is that bad of a word compared to “faggot”. History would prove me somewhat right.

In a world of ideas and ideology, we forget that LGTBQ is not an idea. It’s a point of existence. Unfortunately, ideas have recurrently been idolized above the scientific fact of sexual fluidity. You can’t criticize religion, but fags are fair game.

SOUTHPARK EPISODE ADDRESSING THE ISSUE:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Camp_of_Tolerance

Khalid.