Letter To The Editor: Re “NFL: The Double Standard Of Bigotry”

David Vu,

I do not have the time to explain to you how wrong you are when you claim that “his kissing his partner after being drafted is disturbing enough… because things of that nature shouldn’t be on open television in the first place” so, I’ll let this image speak for me. (Image is of many famous heterosexual kissing throughout sports and pop history with captions such as “Congrats” and “cute”, culminating in the infamous kiss with the caption: “Quit shoving your sexuality in my face!”

However, I’d like to explain why, Mr. Vu, that advocating against fear- and hate-based oppression (that, you know, permeates our entire society, and others’ around the world) is in fact a good thing — try going to some other countries where being gay is grounds for the death penalty.

Thinking there is some sort of national or worldwide preference towards those who are homosexual is ludicrous.

Your argument will not make sense the day we have a single out gay president. It will not even make sense when, hundreds or thousands of years from now, when “straught” is not the dominant sexual identity of world leaders.

It would make sense if and only if there is a stigmatized, history-long real persecution and oppression, causing straight people to be refused jobs, homes, kicked out of their family, raped, assaulted and killed solely for being straight.

This is where many would suggest that you extract your cranium from your anus, that the world doesn’t revolve around you — but that’s not exactly correct, now, is it?

In fact, the world does revolve more around you — not because you have some sort of answer to the universe when it comes to “reverse bigotry” — but because you are, presumably, straight. And your privilege allows you to live your life as if being straight is normal, as if it is by default.

That is, quite absolutely, not the case.

 

Octavia Wright is fourth-year computer science games major. She can be reached at tkwright@uci.edu

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