Someone recently commented on one of my Facebook posts, saying something like, “I don’t care if people are gay; I just don’t want them shoving their sexuality in my face.”
This person isn’t alone in this sentiment; I’ve seen plenty of people express something similar. Except they’re wrong: they do care when someone is gay. In fact, that’s the only time people like this complain about sexuality being shoved in their face.
You never see straight people complaining about sexuality being shoved in their face when they see a man and woman holding hands in public, or putting arms around each other in public, or kissing in public.
You never see straight people complaining about sexuality being shoved in their face when a man in a movie or TV show pursues a woman romantically.
You never see straight people complaining about sexuality being shoved in their face when couples are portrayed in advertisements as a man and a woman.
You never see straight people complaining about sexuality being shoved in their face when a family with a mother and father is portrayed as the norm.
They don’t complain because they don’t see it as sexuality. Because heteronormative sexuality is normal to them. And it’s what they perceive as abnormal that they have a problem with.
It has nothing to do with sexuality. It has everything to do with gayness. They think by prefacing their statement with an apathetic declaration that it portrays themselves as objective and tolerant; they just don’t realize that it actually underscores their homophobia.
