I see that you're editing your post but please bear in mind that this thread isn't for arguing or stating a position. Its supposed to be for supporting gay bronies...
Just in case anypony missed it. Please don't force my hoof, guys. I don't feel comfortable editing and deleting posts in this thread, but if it comes down to it, I will. @Fieuline Tabby, this thread is not about religion or religious tolerance. If you want to talk about that, take it elsewhere in another thread. We are tolerant of religion, however, we kindly ask that we keep religious, political and social debates OUT of this topic.
I'm okay with either or. I think it's called homoflexible on that scaleamajigger someone posted a while back. Not sure. I'm fine with whatever sort of sexuality ANYBODY has, you name it, as long as you don't try and force me to follow your preferences I'm okay. What i don't like about it are people who wield sexuality like a weapon. I'll give you a nice example of someone who happens to go to the same school at me. To protect him from the forces of the internet, let us call him Frank. Now Frank is, a fairly average person. On the tall side, but that's about it. But Frank makes /perfectly/ sure that everyone around him knows what his preferences are, whether they wanted to or not. My first and last encounter with frank went along the lines of: "Hello, my name's Frank. I'm gay. Do you have a problem with that?" *stinkeye is procured until i give an answer* "Um, not really? I mean, i'm not really fuss-" "Oh good! Some people are so intolerant nowadays." And then he walked off, and ignored me forever. People are strange.
People that tell you in the same breath of them introducing themselves annoy me. I dont mind what background you have spiritually. Im curious where the tolerance begins and ends. The Weapon that Dwarf wields is based off the AR platform. Its the barbie of guns.
I, personally, only bring it up when asked. In fact, I rarely say outright "I'm gay." The way most people find out is when they ask, "Do you have a girlfriend?" and I respond, "No, I have a boyfriend."
So anyway, I actually do have a LGBT related issue I wish to discuss: acceptance. As you are all aware, I'm still trying to come out of the proverbial closet to my parents. I'm still working on that e-mail for my dad, and I'm really unsure as to how he'd react. I've decided to not tell my mom for as long as possible though. I know for a fact that she won't take it well to say the least. In addition, there are plenty of my friends who now think significantly less of me due to my sexuality. We mostly avoid the topic, but when its brought up it always winds up with my feelings severely damaged. I'm a really sensitive guy, it takes the most small insult to really hurt me... such as the f---ot word (I censored that purposely, its such a disgusting word I can't even bring myself to type it out). In addition, a really cruel religious person (no offense to those of you that are religious) who I once called friend continues to harass me about it, telling me "facts" as to why its proven to be wrong and morally incorrect and how I'm "doomed to hell" (as if lol). But as absurd as stuff like this is, it still hurts, you know? I know you can't change people but... I really just want to be accepted for who I am! And it seems no matter where I turn I can't find true acceptance.
There are always gonna be people who suck. I'm not one of them. For every good person, there are 10 bad ones. People are willing to drag you down to their holes just to try to convince you to stop being who you are. Don't give up. Those idiots have no idea what they're talking about. Live your life how you want to, just don't go around and trample on other people while doing it.
It sounds like things have been really tough for you. :c I know I already spoke with you about this, but I consider you a friend and I will always be here to support you. I hope things get better for you soon.
Thanks Matty. I'll be fine though. I promise. I know, and thank you. Sometimes it just doesn't feel worth it...
In an effort to promote more understanding between LGBT bronies and “normal” bronies, I wish to share with you a story. A story of my experiences with the world, how and why my sexuality became a central part of who I am, why I seem so passionate or sensitive towards those that disagree, and so on. It started last year, I think, in August of 2010. Or was it 2009? I can’t remember anymore. Pretty sure it’s only been a year though. Regardless, I used to be a shrimpy little homophobic Catholic white kid (still am, minus the homophobic and Catholic, of course) just really starting to explore the internet for real, for things other than research and World of Warcraft (I’m such a loser, I know). On a message board, I met my first boyfriend. Now how did this work if I was such a closed-minded homophobe? Well, I started talking to him, I felt attraction to him, we did some things that should probably be kept private involving cameras, and bam, suddenly everything I know about the world is thrown into question on what I believe, leading to the roller coaster that was self-discovery. As to the boyfriend… He’s not important. He was abusive. He hurt me time and time again. I don’t want to talk about him. What I do want to talk about is my experiences since him. Before I came out to my friends I made absolutely sure they were accepting, and guess what, most of them were, except a few, and when I was absolutely sure I told them that I was gay. Now a lot of people question, “What’s the point of coming out?” Well, let me tell you, it’s just about the BIGGEST confidence booster ever. Seriously. You think people are going to hate you for your sexuality, you think you’re going to be cast out and considered disgusting and strange, and then when they don’t? When they tell you it is okay and they love you anyway? It’s just about the best feeling in the world, let me tell you that. It felt so relieving, sure two or three of them said “Ew dude” or “I don’t care just don’t rub it in my face” or “That ain’t right”, most of them were not only tolerant but ACCEPTING. Because that is what I want. Mere tolerance isn’t good enough. I want acceptance for who I am, pure and simple, not people merely tolerating who I am. Because tolerance implies you just go along with it even though you disagree and still consider it “wrong”. Acceptance is the acceptance that this is who they are and that it is correct and right. Anyway, after my largely successful attempts at coming out to my friends, I attempted to tell my mother! I thought it would go well. Oh how foolish I was. How stupid and ignorant. I tried telling her and you know what? She grounded me for a week and didn’t believe me. Moving on… I was desperate to find an accepting place, a place that would accept my homosexuality entirely. I had recently become a brony, and I soon found a site called “Ponychan”, where there was ACTUALLY a thread devoted to alternative sexualities! And for the first time I got to converse with like-minded individuals! I mean how great is that? However as much fun as I had with Ponychan, the site allows complete and total free speech so I did run into a few bigots (love and tolerate… yeah right). So here I am now. About to write an e-mail to come out to my father (I swear I’m doing it eventually!), and I come to you Everypony a tired man (or rather teenager). I’m tired of hate, tired of mere “tolerance” rather than acceptance, tired of being told I’m disgusting, that I’m a F***t, that I’m going to hell, that I’m wrong, that I’m defying biology, and even that I’m sub-human. SUB-HUMAN for crying out loud. I just want to be accepted. I just want to be friends. So there you have it, my story. First time I’ve posted it in full, too. ♥
I'm glad you explored the possibility yourself and made the decision. I believe that the largest part of non-religion related intolerance is due to the idea that straight guys believe gay guys will hit on them. That's not the case, since it's identical to straight guys and girls--where most guys don't go around asking girls out left and right. At the same time, gays are not attracted to every other person of their gender. As mind boggling as that is, I've observed it quite a lot. It's irritating how such a simplistic concept eludes most, but I suppose having a closed mind and several generations of upbringing riding your thought process could poison that. Anyway, simply time. We will always be left with intolerance in the world, but the open acceptance continues to rise. Humanity has a limitless capacity for cruelty.
Wow, thank you so much for being open about this story with us! I can imagine that it's hard to talk about these things. It sounds like you understand yourself very well an have grown a lot as a person. It's also nice to know that I'm not the only person who went from a homophobic fundamentalist Christian to what I am today. ^^; Keep on hoping in tomorrow; I know that you're feeling very tired and burnt by the world. You're a wonderful person and you have a boyfriend; I know things will be better. :3
Chapien, thank you so much for the story. That must have been hard to write. If you ever have concerns about where your life is going, it's important to find someone to talk to. Us colts and fillies on Everypony are here for you. Don't ever feel like anything those awful people say about you is true. You don't owe anything to them. You're different, not less. We accept you.
Once upon a time, I was a homophobic fundamentalist Christian, as well, so I can certainly relate to the mental shift that occurs there when one realizes ones sexuality is not what they believed it to be. Finding myself spirituality was the biggest contributor to being able to find myself sexually and being comfortable with what I found. Not trying to steer things back to religion here, just letting you know that I was in the same boat. I was also in an environment, when I did discover my sexuality, that was completely hostile toward that choice. My friends were all very supportive, but coming out to my parents was NOT an option as long as I was not in a position to be able to support myself. A few of my friends couldn't understand this and put pressure on me to come out to them, but I knew that doing so would put me in a situation I couldn't handle. It was hard because some of my friends lost respect for me because I wouldn't come out to my parents. I still feel that they were the ones who had their priorities backward. Keeping a roof over my head and food in my mouth was more important to me than my parents knowing things about me that would put these things in jeopardy. I will never understand why they couldn't understand this. Besides, on some level my parents knew. We went round and round about it, dancing around the subject ad nauseum. It just had to be something we didn't talk about, made a point not to talk about, to keep the peace. It was hard. Very hard. But it kept me safe while in their house. When I finally got out on my own it wasn't such an issue because I could do what I wanted without their intervention. It was freeing, but there was still always that ghost floating above my head, knowing that if I found a woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with I'd have to live that life estranged from my Baptist, non-accepting, parents. Within a few years I found Biohazardjonny and the rest is history. I am LUCKY that I found a man to share my life with. I know that sounds off, but hear me out. That's the thing about being bi(pan)sexual. As long as you happen to fall in love with the "proper" gender (in society's eyes) then you're fine by them. It doesn't matter then if you're bi, because society just kind of looks the other way. I know that I am lucky to have fallen in love with a biological man in that respect because it allows me to keep a relationship with my parents that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to keep. Would I have cut the ties if I needed to? If the partner I found to spend the rest of my life with had turned out to be biologically female? I can't answer that for certain, but I like to think I would have. Love is very important to me and I can't imagine that I would have let my parents keep me from it. I'm telling you all this because I think it's important to hear other people's story when we're trying to write our own and to know that we aren't alone in our struggles. I lucked out, I know, in that the rest of the world can view this relationship as completely "conventional." I escape a lot of the stigma that surrounds homosexuality because of it, but that wasn't always the case and it CERTAINLY doesn't change who I am. Just because I married a man doesn't change my sexuality. Am still me. I am still pan. Love knows no gender in my heart. I had my trial by fire and came out the other side. You will too, Chapien. You know who you are and no one can take that from you. My only advice is this: Choose your battles. Fight only the ones that don't threaten your fundamental safety. If you don't have to come out right now it's OK to stay in the closet and don't let anyone tell you it's not because your SAFETY needs to come first, before anything else. Coming out before you're able to support yourself is dangerous mistake and one that leaves far too many gay and transgender youths out on the street. Don't let anyone tell you that you have to be out in order to be true to yourself. The only person you have to be true to yourself with is YOU. Stay safe, brave one. We're all on your side.
It's amazing and encouraging to hear many stories about people who come from fundamentalist backgrounds who have found themselves and then moved on. I'm not exactly proud of my past and hearing these things makes me feel better. Thank you to you as well for sharing your personal story. It sounds like you've been through many struggles as well and came out on the other side being much more self-aware. You're a strong person and I'm glad to hear that you've found some peace and happiness in your life.
