We have had many inspiring and wonderful guests speakers coming in to talk to us about certain topics, but the one that stood out to me the most was the LGBTQ Specialist, Lisa Pittari. Lisa spoke to us about the discrimination there is today in our society against the gays and lesbians, and talked about the LGBTQ movement. The first thing she showed us in her presentation was the video ad about the word usage of “gay”. After watching that video it triggered an experience I had with using the word gay out of its content. One day I was talking to my friend and jokingly told him how “gay” he was. All of a sudden a boy from behind walked up to me and told me that using the word gay is very offensive and not a nice thing to say at all. At that moment I felt horrible because I did not mean to offend anyone. From just that experience alone I am now very aware of the certain words I choose to use aloud. I am not someone that discriminates against the gays and lesbians; in fact I have a very close family friend of mine who is gay. The gay community is no different at all from heterosexual people, and a lot of people in our society do not agree with that.
What I respected about Lisa is that she was not biased at all when she was talking to us about this subject. She was not there to convince us to support the gay community; she respected all of our different views and simply just laid out the facts of the discrimination that has been going on with this group. Her presentation was very effective because she got the class involved with doing activities and having us participate, leaving the floor open to anyone who had an opinion. The story she shared with us about the transgender was an eye-opener of a story. This kind of discrimination does not just go on with the gay community, but it happens in all cultures and religions. The message she ultimately wanted to get across to all of us is that discrimination is a serious thing, and the gay community is a perfect example of a group that has been hit pretty hard with discrimination in today’s society. The LGBTQ community is going out there in our society to spread the message that Lisa shared with us in our classroom. With just one person addressing this issue to another person can go a long way and can slowly make a change for the better in our community.
The gay community is such a unified group in America. If they speak out to others about this discrimination, more and more people will be aware of how other human beings are being treated and they will see it is not right. In tourism the gay community can set up a conference in major cities of America, where they can spread the message of awareness of what is going on. Also, LGBTQ is a non-profit organization that talks about the gay advocacy, issues, and events that go on in the gay community. It also provides services and support for anyone who has felt discriminated. Another non-profit group besides LGBTQ is Atticus Circle. Their mission is to educate straight people to create equal rights for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. They want to show the challenges families and partnerships face because of these discriminations. You can find more information about this non-profit organization on their website at http://www.atticuscircle.org/mission.
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