Lots of interesting human rights things surrounding sexuality and gender have been going on in the western world, particularly its high seat in the United States. In the last two years, more gender options have appeared on many official documents, same-sex marriage has been legalized, bills passed to protect transgender people from discrimination, and of course the issue with bathroom rights in the US is ongoing. Now more than ever we have a large liberal community, a global community, who are united behind these issues and the liberation of the people they affect.
My question is, why not us? Perhaps it is a huge leap to go from saying people with penises should be allowed to use the women's washroom, or that mothers should be able to breastfeed their children in restaurants, to the suggestion that perhaps those who have intercourse with animals may not be sick or abusive. But the wonderful thing about this day and age is that we have the internet, and people read what they see on the internet. And if there is vocal support in their camp — if other Bernie Sanders liberals are giving things their Like and sharing on Facebook with a captioned #damnright — people follow. It's what people do.
But the issues are flowing like cheap beer on campus, and if we want to ride this train of social libertarianism in the most conservative country in the English-speaking world, we need to start acting now. Communities of people who want their rights acknowledged, who don't want to be worried about blackmail or arrest for the love they share with their animals, need to start popping up and going public on the internet. I'm not talking about names; we can use handles, just as we have done for decades now, and we can continue using our security so that if someone creates #zoogate we needn't worry about being leaked. What we need isn't organization, although that's part of it; what we need is numbers, and to get the word out to one another so that people can see what those numbers are. That, and reasonable dialogue, using phrases like "safe space" and "government out of my bedroom" will draw the positive attention we need.
And there will be negative attention. A lot of it. What needs to be done is to simply ignore it, and acknowledge any allies we might receive very strongly. It's the allies that will make the difference here, and as soon as we start alienating them, we cripple any movement that might be started here.
Think about it. Talk about it. Our timing is right, and it's time to organize.
My question is, why not us? Perhaps it is a huge leap to go from saying people with penises should be allowed to use the women's washroom, or that mothers should be able to breastfeed their children in restaurants, to the suggestion that perhaps those who have intercourse with animals may not be sick or abusive. But the wonderful thing about this day and age is that we have the internet, and people read what they see on the internet. And if there is vocal support in their camp — if other Bernie Sanders liberals are giving things their Like and sharing on Facebook with a captioned #damnright — people follow. It's what people do.
But the issues are flowing like cheap beer on campus, and if we want to ride this train of social libertarianism in the most conservative country in the English-speaking world, we need to start acting now. Communities of people who want their rights acknowledged, who don't want to be worried about blackmail or arrest for the love they share with their animals, need to start popping up and going public on the internet. I'm not talking about names; we can use handles, just as we have done for decades now, and we can continue using our security so that if someone creates #zoogate we needn't worry about being leaked. What we need isn't organization, although that's part of it; what we need is numbers, and to get the word out to one another so that people can see what those numbers are. That, and reasonable dialogue, using phrases like "safe space" and "government out of my bedroom" will draw the positive attention we need.
And there will be negative attention. A lot of it. What needs to be done is to simply ignore it, and acknowledge any allies we might receive very strongly. It's the allies that will make the difference here, and as soon as we start alienating them, we cripple any movement that might be started here.
Think about it. Talk about it. Our timing is right, and it's time to organize.
Hey there, the end of the first paragraph has a type... you effect people, but you can put on an affect.. Thanks for writing!
ReplyDeleteJ.D. is correct, there's no issues.
DeleteAffect (v) : to make a difference on
Effect (n) : the result of some action
Affect can also be a noun meaning one's visible emotion, and effect can be a verb meaning to summon or bring about something. Thanks for reading, you two. :)
Delete