Actress Ellen Page publicly came out as gay Friday evening, while giving a speech at Time to THRIVE, a national LGBTQ youth conference held in Las Vegas.
"I'm here today because I am gay," Page told the assembled crowd, which responded with a standing ovation and a long chorus of cheers.
"Whoo!" said Page, before continuing:
Originally Posted by :
"And because maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility.
I also do it selfishly because I'm tired of hiding and I'm tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered, and my relationships suffered. And I'm standing here today with all of you on the other side of that pain."
Page is most famous for becoming pregnant by her awkward classmate Michael Cera, and for invading the dreams of a stranger alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, neither of which happened in real life, because she is an actress.
After her speech, the Human Rights Campaign, which organized the conference, congratulated Page on the front page of its website for "her brave decision to live openly and authentically." [Reply]
Originally Posted by Donger:
Are the kids who don't approve of homosexuality the targets of scorn and disrepute?
I'm not sure it's an either/or situation, where SOMEONE has to be the target of scorn and disrepute. That seems to be what you're saying.
If that is the case, those students who don't approve of homosexuality are being marginalized over a small fraction of who they are as people (their beliefs about homosexuality as heterosexual students). An overwhelming majority of homosexual kids are bullied, chastised, and marginalized FAR worse over an enormous aspect of who they are as people.
Also, those kids are making the choice to believe what they want to about homosexuality. Gay kids can't change who they are.
If it is an either/or situation, wouldn't you agree that it's better to error on the side of... oh, I don't know... not making gay kids seriously consider suicide? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Baby Lee:
It's a shorthand, the poster was remarking that Parsons has an obvious gay posture and affect, comparing him to Charles Nelson Reilly and Charles Lind.
Originally Posted by SNR:
I'm not sure it's an either/or situation, where SOMEONE has to be the target of scorn and disrepute. That seems to be what you're saying.
If that is the case, those students who don't approve of homosexuality are being marginalized over a small fraction of who they are as people (their beliefs about homosexuality as heterosexual students). An overwhelming majority of homosexual kids are bullied, chastised, and marginalized FAR worse over an enormous aspect of who they are as people.
Also, those kids are making the choice to believe what they want to about homosexuality. Gay kids can't change who they are.
If it is an either/or situation, wouldn't you agree that it's better to error on the side of... oh, I don't know... not making gay kids seriously consider suicide?
Originally Posted by SNR:
I'm not sure it's an either/or situation, where SOMEONE has to be the target of scorn and disrepute. That seems to be what you're saying.
If that is the case, those students who don't approve of homosexuality are being marginalized over a small fraction of who they are as people (their beliefs about homosexuality as heterosexual students). An overwhelming majority of homosexual kids are bullied, chastised, and marginalized FAR worse over an enormous aspect of who they are as people.
Also, those kids are making the choice to believe what they want to about homosexuality. Gay kids can't change who they are.
If it is an either/or situation, wouldn't you agree that it's better to error on the side of... oh, I don't know... not making gay kids seriously consider suicide?
Perhaps the homosexual kids could and should just accept their abnormality? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Direckshun:
Is it not really, really obvious that SNR is projecting?
I think it is.
I had a friend in high school who sat in his bedroom at night and put a gun in his mouth. Thought about pulling the trigger. And this happened a few times.
He was in the closet in high school, but he "sounded" gay. And he was bullied pretty hard for it.
He told me later that even though he considered me a friend and someone he knew he could come out to, there was a part of him in the back of his head that didn't trust me. That part of him didn't trust anybody. He finally told me he was gay a few years into college, which didn't surprise me. What did surprise me is that's when he told me about his thoughts of suicide. Until then I had no idea.
Sorry, I know you were joking, and didn't mean to dry up the banter. But it's kind of an issue I take personally. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SNR:
I think that's what most of them are trying to do. Come to terms with who they are.
Getting called a "pillowbiter" every 20 seconds tends to make that task a little bit harder.
And I don't agree or approve with that happening to them, either. No more than I do with a child who was born with a malformed limb being called a "gimp" every 20 seconds. [Reply]
Originally Posted by SNR:
I think that's what most of them are trying to do. Come to terms with who they are.
Getting called a "pillowbiter" every 20 seconds tends to make that task a little bit harder.
Let's not lose sight of . . . Everyone has shit.
Too Tall
Too Short
Too Big Boobs
Too Small Boobs
Stringy Brown Hair
Stringy Blonde Hair
Ginger
Nerdy
Geeky
Dumb
Too Smart
Too Kissass
Acne
Body Hair
Weird Interests
Weird Parents
Weird ethnicity
Weird religion
Weird customs
Child of Divorce
Child of privilege
Originally Posted by Baby Lee:
Let's not lose sight of . . . Everyone has shit.
Too Tall
Too Short
Too Big Boobs
Too Small Boobs
Stringy Brown Hair
Stringy Blonde Hair
Ginger
Nerdy
Geeky
Dumb
Too Smart
Too Kissass
Acne
Body Hair
Weird Interests
Weird Parents
Weird ethnicity
Weird religion
Weird customs
Child of Divorce
Child of privilege
And they're ALL Teenagers.
You're right. Bullying is bullying, and that's never a good thing.
And if kids used racial slurs to bully a particular ethnicity as often as they use gay slurs to bully gay kids, I think you'd agree there's a pretty big problem that needs to be more aggressively addressed outside of, "All bullying is bad and shouldn't be tolerated." [Reply]
