A submission concerning hate crimes

targeting gays.

       Recent crimes targeting the gay community have awakened buried, but not dead, conflicts in society. Homosexuality is not an issue people like to discuss, but this issue needs to be addressed, now, not only because of past tragic events, but also for future prevention of outbursts of rage against gays, like the eruption of homophobia that caused Matthew Shepard's and Teena Brandon's death to occur. Homosexuality exists, this people cannot deny. In fact, nine percent of surveyed teens said that they were gay, thinking about being gay or are in questioning of themselves. The fact that these people exist and are not going anywhere cannot be ignored. Suppressing these people, taunting them and hating them is not going to change anything. The only thing it will do is bring about more social conflict and arrogance of which the United States already possess a long and bitter history. When the first pioneers came to America, they came to find freedom of religion, to believe in what they wanted, not what the majority dictated. These minorities founded the country of the United States, today one of the world's superpowers. Likewise, gays constitute a minority that has as much to offer the United States as any other. Accepting them and letting them merge into the melting pot of the United States benefits everyone. Likewise, African Americans were slaves, suppressed and treated as lesser beings. The Angelo Saxon majority would not accept them because of the color of their skin. However, the black people fought for their right to equality and freedom, saying they were people just like all else, and eventually they were granted equal civil rights. Today, it is hard to contemplate what reasoning society could have used to justify the enslavement and oppression of African Americans. In the early part of the century women fought for equality with their male counterparts. There was a time when a women, divorcing her husband, lost all rights to her children. Women were not allowed to hear of natural methods of contraception because the legislatures, males, and supported by the voters, again males only, ruled against it. Today, it is unthinkable that such injustices occurred within society. It is one of the greatest ironies in society today that people are taught to learn from the past, yet still, oppression of a minority is accepted. Society needs to be more open to listen, not necessarily justify-simply listen. Internalizing all these emotions of hate and fear toward homosexuals can only hurt people, especially the ones that have all this anger and hate stored inside. However, hating, taunting, and oppressing homosexuals is not the solution. Those who commit these actions are simply cowardice, afraid of things which they do not understand and refusing to hear of things which they do not like. All that they need do is listen, try to understand that just because it seems 'unnatural' to them, does not mean that is wrong. If people wanted to behave 'naturally', they should just regress back to savagery. For example, contraception is not natural, but it is generally accepted. Flying to the moon and back was never a natural purpose of mankind, but man achieved it. Life support is not 'natural,' but it is practiced. Medication is not 'natural', but it is used all over the world. Most things that exist today are not 'natural', but they are accepted. The only thing that is natural to all human beings is their ability to communicate. Nothing will happen if people communicate instead of remaining silent. No negative event can result from people listening to each other and discussing their differences and trying to resolve them. Communication leads only to positive outcomes. In a country that has had so much social oppression in the past and stresses freedom to such a great extent, one would think that people would learn from the past to listen, try to understand and be more open to new ideas. Yes, it is hard to alter social morals, but won't people seem a lot smarter if they just tried? Meeka Ahuvia !6, Orlando. FYI, this was rejected from print in my conservative high school newspaper.