Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Homophobia: Not An Actual Phobia

In the Oxford dictionary the term 'homophobia' is defined as dislike or prejudice against homosexual people, so why do we continue to call it a phobia? You are not scared of them. You are simply being a terrible human being. As the years go on, members of the LGBT community have been gaining acceptance from all over the country, but the state of Indiana just took a major step in the wrong direction. According to the new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are no longer protected from discrimination at the state level. Business owners now reserve the right to pick and choose their customers if they feel like their religious freedom is being threatened. LGBT customers can easily be denied service under this new law. The discrimination will be justified by the business owners faith and there is no way that the customer would be able to file a lawsuit. This new legislation has caused an uproar among Americans and LGBT rights advocates have begun protests against the law's enactment. Republican Gov. Mike Pence, who signed the bill last week, said he was going to "clarify" the legislation. As far as changing the law goes, Pence has stated that the legislation will stand and he will take no part in removing the law. The idea of being refused food or basic services because of their sexual orientation has members of the LGBT community furious. Many say that the new law feels like legalized discrimination, which is exactly what the law actually is. I feel like this legal battle will end terribly and it is absolutely ridiculous that homophobes have the right to discriminate now. It's 2015 for crying out loud. For further information on the new law visit CNN:  http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/31/us/indiana-religious-freedom-discrimination-opinions/

Sincerely,
          Olympia

7 comments:

  1. This is honestly so horrible! I didn't know anything about this. The fact that people have the nerve to not serve or pick and choose their costumers is disgusting. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders are humans too. Where does it say that they're not? I can't wait till you post next week, it's going to be even better!

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    1. I totally feel the same way! Thank you for your feedback, Bri

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  2. This is a really interesting article and I didn't know any of these things were even happening. It was very well written and I can't wait to see your next article!

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  3. This was intense.. I feel this post will "awaken" people and finally teach everyone what is actually happening.

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  4. (Prince) What make me furious about this is not just the fact they have nerves to do this people who did nothing wrong,but the fact that people of my religion(Christan) think that they can deny someone rights just because their sexuality "offends" their religion and worst off all is that people think I'm like these religious hypocrites pigs.-__-

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  5. Very interesting post i felt as if it was quite subjective though despite the actions and discriminations you've stated taken by people against homosexual. Whether one views a homosexual as repulsive or not it is up to them as every person tends to have a different view on a particular issue. Now I'm not saying it is right for one take away a homosexual's basic need, however including a quote from one who is a homosexual and one who is not would better conjugate both sides together.

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  6. This post has honestly left me speechless. I was previously aware of problems with discrimination against the LGBT community but this is just inhumane and wrong. If you think about it, it's kind of like a 2015 version of segregation that goes beyond the color of your skin. Nobody should allow history to repeat itself in such an awful way.

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