GianCarlo and RazorsEdge, you have no idea... I grew up in a part of Melbourne as a German boy where the people had absolutely no tolerance of Europeans, let alone Germans. At six years of age, my first day in school was great, my second day was hell, with racial slurs left, right and centre. It was impossible. Within weeks it was fights in the toilets and playgrounds and even being ostracised in the classrooms.
By grade two I was insulted with sexually based slurs, stuck with a compass on more than a couple of occasions and verbally insulted overtly in class and still physically attacked in the yard and even to and from school. It was in grade two that the violence had become so systemic that I tried to stab myself in the stomach with a cook's knife.
By grade five, I was being gang attacked weekly, (sorry, forgot having my head slammed into the school wall twice in grade three by a Dutch boy who needed to distance himself from the German) aside from the regular fights and insults. In grade six I was slammed in the head by a kid with a huge piece of two by four.
High school was progressively worse, including sexual assault in year seven by a group of boys from my English class and regular attacks, in and out of class, in my own street, on my way to and from school, verbal and with knives and sticks, a cricket bat, insulted by teachers, humiliated by teachers and students frequently etc, etc.
I was beaten up by a local gang known as the Boronia Boys and set upon almost every Friday night I worked late and had to catch the train and walk home - 16 yo. Once I was brought down with a cord of some sort with a lead weight at the end of it thrown around my neck from behind, pulled over backwards and had the shit kicked out of me in front of a cafe that was open. I crawled inside and asked the owner to call the police who had a station literally around the corner. It took them hours to get there and when they arrived, they wouldn't charge the boys (there were a lot of them, and they are well known for serious criminal offences on a constant basis), saying there was no point as it wouldn't mean anything when they already had "lists as long as your arm."
By 17yo I found myself raped, with nothing to live for. By the time I was at uni I was suicidal again. It was after my suicide attempt that I finally realised that my family, who had been seriously involved with the Nazi machine in Germany, were indeed right - I needed to stand up and stop tolerating the abuse and be as hard-arsed as the people making my life hell. This is what it is to draw a line that cannot be crossed without repercussions.
Even after struggling through uni and beginning as a teacher, I found myself singled out, because a life of being bashed and abused does something to your nature that makes you recognisable to violent offenders. There have been studies done that show that rapists and battery offenders can pick the person who has been so attacked, even from behind and just by watching them walk.
The last time I was attacked it was just a few years ago and by a group of eight teenagers on the train around 17:30 on a Saturday afternoon on my way home from town, in the company of another teacher - a really strong and fit, good looking woman who also took some abuse from these guys. A good number of well groomed fellow passengers (one even knew me - a Swiss guy; neutral as always...) sat there silently within arm's reach ignoring me having to fight to stay out from under. I was kicked in the head and punched all over. I had to really drive the police to take any action, and in fact when the train doors opened at the station and the railway police stood in the doorway, they let all eight of the teenagers go and tried to arrest me!
I have been verbally abused by police too on more than one occasion, and harassed with my boyfriend.
I do know what it is to deal with violence and ostracisation, and I really do understand the importance of standing up for yourself, even when it scares you.
For all of this, I mix with amazing people who are all really successful in the Arts, in medicine & pharmacology and in educational circles, law and architecture. None of these people, clearly, see anything particularly flawed or weak in my nature or behaviour, and many of them hold fairly responsible positions in various communities, also looking after large groups of people. I count these people as my closest friends and they include me among their nearest and dearest. I am not a freak to look at or to speak with.
Even now, neither of you know enough about me to comment validly on whether or not I know or have enough personal experience to understand the potential of these kinds of marginalisation and the possibilities that can arise from various choices we make when interpolated by such a call as "faggot." I didn't start to teach Literary Theory focusing on the use of language to control and release because I had a theoretical interest alone. And I do draw from real life situations, applications, expressions and experiences, as well as reported news and obviously, literature and other media (written by a huge range of real people with incredible experience and insight) when I explain various works and theories to the students.
You would have us silent and neutered until it reaches crisis point. My reference to reading history is to point to the fact that to wait that long is to wait until it is too late. My suggestion to grow a set is to emphasise that being a participant in a straight man domineering world where the reality is that in most places, in most countries all around the world, GLBTQ people are not only marginalised, but even attacked and killed and raped with few consequences being obvious. It is not an epidemic, but it happens and it happens often with the leaders turning a blind eye, via legal convolutions etc. Church leaders call to their parishes, telling them we are abhorrent in the eyes of their gods, and their masses respond with vilification and teaching their children to bully, if they themselves aren't either doing the bullying. Nazis didn't control words and schools and expression because words are irrelevant - and Crystal Night was a blink of an eye later. Every time you concede ground, you lose space. Eventually there is no space left.
PS, As to interpreting correlative data regarding murders: My memories of Psych classes are that the majority of murders take place between domestic partners and their families, not so often strangers. As for arguments being reported to have taken place before a murder: I can't imagine too many people who know they are about to be killed stand there quietly - although perhaps you guys would.
), I was with a big group of straight guys, some jocks. One guy, the biggest jock of them all, who I was actually friends with, was making a series of homophobic comments. The other guys were laughing. I said something to the effect of the following: They say that guys who make hostile remarks about homosexuals do so because they are actually afraid of their own latent homosexuality. That shut him up and wiped the smirks off the faces of the guys who were laughing. Another guy, a real muscle jock, but also a liberal democrat, started to laugh and said, "you're right, I agree with you."
Pick your battles wisely.
