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athenaltenaFamily is being annoyed by what people say but knowing you can't strangle them for it.
I realize why a lot of LGBT people dread the holidays, though all things considered I have it relatively well off. Still, there were several points today when some joke or reference was made by my aunt that made me want to step on her foot or clear my throat really loudly, but I didn't want to start a fight. She made a few rather insensitive references, such as saying Radcliffe College is full of lesbians, describing a gay coworker as being "diverse" (which ticked me off -- if he's gay just say he's gay, don't dance around the issue!) some "out of the closet" joke, and an insensitive reference to FTM transsexuals. It wasn't malicious, but it was insensitive. Granted, I'm not out to my extended family (with the exception of one aunt who I highly suspect knows) but still, that's not cool and it puts a strain on any time we're together. Nothing was explicitly homophobic, but still deserving of a dope slap.
I did bring up with the aunt who probably knows a recent news story about an 11 year old kid who killed himself because of homophobic bullying in the same area (but not the same school) where she works, and she expressed outrage that the school apparently didn't do anything to stop the bullying, and she talked about her school's policy on that, which is zero tolerance. So I confirmed what I'd thought about her in that regard, and also confirmed that the other relatives are clueless.
Looks like introducing them to Sara might be a ways off still... I'm actually finding it harder and harder to care about what they actually think or how they'd react, it's just annoying. This is yet another thing LGBT people have to deal with that the rest of the population happily ignores. *sigh*
I realize why a lot of LGBT people dread the holidays, though all things considered I have it relatively well off. Still, there were several points today when some joke or reference was made by my aunt that made me want to step on her foot or clear my throat really loudly, but I didn't want to start a fight. She made a few rather insensitive references, such as saying Radcliffe College is full of lesbians, describing a gay coworker as being "diverse" (which ticked me off -- if he's gay just say he's gay, don't dance around the issue!) some "out of the closet" joke, and an insensitive reference to FTM transsexuals. It wasn't malicious, but it was insensitive. Granted, I'm not out to my extended family (with the exception of one aunt who I highly suspect knows) but still, that's not cool and it puts a strain on any time we're together. Nothing was explicitly homophobic, but still deserving of a dope slap.
I did bring up with the aunt who probably knows a recent news story about an 11 year old kid who killed himself because of homophobic bullying in the same area (but not the same school) where she works, and she expressed outrage that the school apparently didn't do anything to stop the bullying, and she talked about her school's policy on that, which is zero tolerance. So I confirmed what I'd thought about her in that regard, and also confirmed that the other relatives are clueless.
Looks like introducing them to Sara might be a ways off still... I'm actually finding it harder and harder to care about what they actually think or how they'd react, it's just annoying. This is yet another thing LGBT people have to deal with that the rest of the population happily ignores. *sigh*
