Prejudice

Jim Burroway

February 10th, 2008

Being gay in America carries much less of a burden than it did fifty years ago. And while we still have examples of discrimination and violent crimes against us, it is nothing like the experiences of people elsewhere. An unnamed gay Kenyan blogger who calls himself “Gay Nairobi Man” reflects on the recent ethnic and political violence that has been engulfing his country for more than a month:

This quote by George Aiken caught my eye: “If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon.”

This rings true with what we have faced in the last month or so. You have to work twice as hard to garner half of what you’ve earned in a system that’s set up to work against you. Nevertheless for those of us who refuse to play the victim, work hard, beat the odds and actually attain success and prove that we’re formidable in our respective areas, we’re still looked down upon for being the wrong race, wrong gender, wrong orientation or dare I say tribe?

When it comes to the issues of bigotry, I’m expected to smile, overlook and pretend like everything is okay. I shouldn’t have to do that. No one should. So don’t do it! Don’t allow yourself to be judged on such fickle standards.

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