ShmoopTube

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Acceptance of Gender and Sexuality... a la Shmoop.

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Phew. Big topic. Important topic, too. So let’s check the jokes at the door for a

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second and get right to it.

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Gender and sexuality are two things that are very important to each and every person.

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They’re also two things that, news flash, no one else is allowed to give you grief for.

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So while you might think it's funny to tease Gail here because she just so happens to like

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other gals, guess what: it’s not cool. It just makes you a grade A jerk.

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But hey, keep laughing! It’ll still be funny when Gail feels like she doesn’t fit in

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anywhere, and that she has no reason to live, right?

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And it’ll be completely hilarious when she commits suicide, as so many LGBTQ youths end

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up doing, because your stupid jokes made her feel like she was disgusting and wrong in

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some way.

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…Huh. So it’s not funny? Well, go figure.

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What about when one of her friends decides to go postal on you with the uzi?

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Or they pull up in a white van one day and you end up missing... just missing...

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...under the basement there... being tortured for years until you beg for death.

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Huh. Well maybe that's a little extreme.

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Look. Being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered

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might make someone different from you, but so does the fact that they like rollerblading,

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or that they like ferrets, or that they like rollerblading ferrets.

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And last time we checked, we didn’t make fun of people who liked ferrets or enjoyed

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rollerblading.

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So why be a di–– er…why be a jerk about something that’s

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completely out of someone’s control?

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Because whatever you happen to be? It’s not a choice. It’s just who you are.

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It's how you were born. Tall, short, fat, skinny...

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Look at it this way: we’re pretty sure you had no control over your eye color or your

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height. They just happen to be what they are, right?

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And gender and sexuality? Those just happen to be what they are, too.

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And we know the place you live in may have a different opinion on what we’re saying.

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Just because everyone around you holds the same belief, does that mean you have to as well?

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We’re not saying that’s led to bad situations in the past, or anything but….

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You get the point.

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LGBTQ people have been abused, arrested, persecuted and even killed for years and years.

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Let’s ignore the fact that that’s completely horrifying and oh so wrong…

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And let’s focus on this instead: everyone in the world knows a Gail.

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Whether or not you’re aware of it, chances are incredibly high that you know someone

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who identifies as being LGBTQ.

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Maybe they’re out, maybe they’re scared, but they exist in your life.

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And maybe it’s all cool when you’re making fun of Gail, because hey, you barely know

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her. She’s just the “weird lesbian girl,” right?

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But what if it’s your little brother in the closet? And what if your comments have

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made him terrified to come out and be who he is?

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And what if instead of Gail taking her own life, it’s your brother?

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How are you doing now?

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We know that this is a heavy topic. But pretending this isn’t an issue? That’s just…..

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No, there’s no other word for it. It’s just plain dumb.

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A joke about someone's weird rollerblading ferret is one thing. A joke about their gender

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or sexuality is another.

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…the person who owns the ferret. Not the ferret itself.

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Though don’t make fun of the ferret’s gender or sexuality, either.

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That’s not cool.

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Bottom line: don’t be a jerk. Someone else’s gender or sexuality has absolutely no bearing

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on your life, so why even think about it?

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Does it make you feel like a better person, a stronger more powerful person to make

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fun of someone else?

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You maybe have a latent leaning that way that you're afraid of?

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That you don't want to come out about?

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Your friends won't think you're cool?

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Think more about that ferret. That is one talented ferret…

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