Huggins293
10-26-2006, 01:22 PM
I would like to describe my activist experience on an anti-gay board. Please tell me if I have upheld the principles of non-violence gay activism and should I refrain from doing this on heavily heterosexist boards.
I am debating on a heterosexism forum on a heterosexist forum. I continue to bring up the subject of heterosexism and most responders tell me to be quite about the issue. Would it be a tactic of civil disobedience to refuse their request and continue to answer their responses as well continue to start threads that get responses from heterosexists. I have told them, if they want to silence me they could simply not respond.
What I belief they wanted was for me to see that most people on the board objected to my pro-gay speech and simply silence my self. However, as a gay activist I felt that was in violation of my activism because they continue to respond to my speeches with lies, distortion and ignorance. To simply comply with their request would be permitting their heterosexism to go unchallenged.
So my questions are, should my cyber activism be directed toward anti-gay boards where the culture of heterosexism is accepted and the discrimination of gays in marriage, adoption and public places is accepted? Should I respect their demands to hold the "opinion" of heterosexism? Or should I use every means to develop arguments in the hopes to change them in the future, whenever that future may be?
We must address heterosexist activity in our culture head on. We should be respectful in our opposition to heterosexism but be persistent and we should demand that we have an equal forum to rebut any public slander of gay and lesbian lifestyle by public leaders. I choose the internet, because frankly I do not have the courage to debate like so man of my respected activists do in person.
I am debating on a heterosexism forum on a heterosexist forum. I continue to bring up the subject of heterosexism and most responders tell me to be quite about the issue. Would it be a tactic of civil disobedience to refuse their request and continue to answer their responses as well continue to start threads that get responses from heterosexists. I have told them, if they want to silence me they could simply not respond.
What I belief they wanted was for me to see that most people on the board objected to my pro-gay speech and simply silence my self. However, as a gay activist I felt that was in violation of my activism because they continue to respond to my speeches with lies, distortion and ignorance. To simply comply with their request would be permitting their heterosexism to go unchallenged.
So my questions are, should my cyber activism be directed toward anti-gay boards where the culture of heterosexism is accepted and the discrimination of gays in marriage, adoption and public places is accepted? Should I respect their demands to hold the "opinion" of heterosexism? Or should I use every means to develop arguments in the hopes to change them in the future, whenever that future may be?
We must address heterosexist activity in our culture head on. We should be respectful in our opposition to heterosexism but be persistent and we should demand that we have an equal forum to rebut any public slander of gay and lesbian lifestyle by public leaders. I choose the internet, because frankly I do not have the courage to debate like so man of my respected activists do in person.