Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Christians want what we want: No More Discrimination!

As I was getting dressed this morning, letting my mind wander as Pandora radio played in the backround, my fleeting, wandering thoughts were brought to a hault as I tuned in closely to the ad interrupting my music.
The ad went something like this: "When I see discrimation happening, I can't just sit there and let it happen, regardless of whether I agree with it or not. It doesn't matter who it is, discrimination is never ok."
Then it went on to say...
"Christians on campus are discriminated against too many times. When you see discrimination occur to a Christian student, speak up."
Ok, so I have horribly paraphrased the ad and unfortunately cannot find it now (however, I will be listening to Pandora earnestly), but it relates to what we talked about in class last Friday with Guzman about the fact that while Christianity is the predominate religion in the U.S., Christian fundamentalists are sometimes discriminated against because of their extremism. However, many times outspoken Christians are being speaking out against homosexuality - is that not discrimination in and of itself?
I agree, nobody should be discriminated against, EVER. Nobody. But the ad does reveal a privilege that Christians, no matter how extreme they can be, have - they are quickly defended and protected. They unproblematically can have ads posted protecting their freedom of speech and their right to non-discrimination on one of the most popular sites on the internet right now. Would LGBT organizations have this privilege so easily accessibly to them? Probably not.
Groups truly interested in eradicating discrimination on school campuses should try to eliminate all discrimination, not only discrimination directed toward one group. This is an issue many groups pushing for social justice run into, even those fighting for LGBTQ justice. Focusing on just one group, our group, is an egocentric approach that gets little done in the long run because it fails to address the mutliple causes of discrimination. Utilizing our understanding of intersectionality and mutliple oppressions is imperative for activism. We know that simply trying to better the conditions for one group of people (ex. lesbians and gays) would still leave others suffering on the margins (ex. transgender community).
After much fighting, the LGBTQ community is making gains (like the SNDA as Meg poignantly commented on), but our efforts do not come so easily to us. Its important to remember that discrimination has one source - thinking that a person is better than another. Its source is the inequality that individuals carry in their minds and actions. If Christians, LGBTQ activists (or LGBTQ Christian activists) or anyone wants to be treated with respect, then they should fight for the respect for all individuals as well.
Note: if you know which ad I am talking about, let me know what the org is called!

1 comment:

  1. Hi, I found your blog because I've been trying to find that organization and a recording of that ad. It struck me as incredibly ironic, and wI anted to show it to my friends. Let me know if you find it!

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