oh my my

BSU is working through/on/over and then some on a bill which would, according to the Arbiter, designate "a week in October as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer, (GLBTQ) week."

Can you imagine the type of "discussion" this proposed bill is producing? If not, do follow the link above and see for yourself. I find it interesting that this reminds me of the campaign against "special rights" for gays/lesbians. Do you remember this? Do you remember how that brilliant couching of GLBT human rights as "special rights" made people both supporting and opposing gay rights question the legitimacy of what really should be seen as humanizing initiatives. EQUAL rights not special rights. Human rights. The issue with this bill is that it addresses the issue of visibility. People who identify "openly" as GLBTQ still in this state and many others risk losing their jobs AND as the lovely threads linked above show, are still subject to ridiculously stupid stereotypes based purely on their sexual preference. It is always amazing to me just how much a power language has to manipulate or rather, how easily language is manipulated to parrot a belief system as fact rather than question the logic behind the argument. The problem with saying that "those people" shouldn't have recognition, a week to celebrate the "diversity" the University and the community are supposedly trying to promote and the initiative to recognize the contribution of the GLBTQ community in Idaho is in those two words: "THOSE PEOPLE."

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how I feel about the bill which is why I've remained silent up until now on the issue. My reservation on it is only this...will such a week serve to humanize or to further dehumanize and marginalize? I do not know. I want to think it could serve as huge opportunity for people to see one another as people, rather than labels but at the same time, I don't feel that I know enough about the bill to really comment on it. It saddens me to see many of the responses. I'm going to try and find out more about it and post updates here when I can. Until then, peace.