Do you think being LGBT is major or nothing?

It's only a big deal because of the heteronormative status quo that makes LGBT people second class citizens and targets of violence/discrimination.

In day to day life, nah, it's nothing major. Queers put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else.

 

It's been a major influence in my life simply because of the directions in which it's taken me. My work for the last three years has been for a queer youth association, and that's also how I met most of my best friends. But it's not the fact that I like girls that's hugely changed my life, it's what I've done with that.

 

For me, it's both.

On the one hand: I am who I am because of a great many character traits. Most of which don't have to do with who I'm attracted to. The job I do, the hobbies I have, the friends I associate with are all mostly determined by being interested in science and technology in the broad sense.

Then again: it is major enough to make it impossible to imagine where I would have been had I been straight.
If there's a straight Filip in an alternate dimension somewhere, I'd put odds on him living together or married to a girl by now, so I guess that would be an enormous change of situation.
And there's a couple of people I talk to almost everyday I would have never met were I not gay. so I guess the Filip from the above alternate universe would have some rather different friends too.

So in the end, it's a major thing, but not the major thing about me.

 

Well, it's the 21st century, so my answer is...

It just is.

It can't be 'nothing' because everything comes from something and nothing comes from nothing. Therefore something that 'is' is something that always has been. And since homosexuality is something that 'always has been' it shouldn't be a big deal at all.

Did that bit of attempted philosophy make sense?

 

It is usually about as big a deal to me as the fact that i have brown hair. It depends on the circumstances, though; mention me telling my mum and I will cower (admittedly, not nearly as much as i used to).

 

It really depends on the situation, who I'm talking to or what we're talking about. It's always kinda a constant thought in the back of my mind but on a day to dY basis I usually have a million other things I'm thinking about as well.

 

Interesting question. In some ways, being gay is both major and minor. It is major in the sense that I would not be who I am today had I not been gay. My experiences, perspective and self-identity were all shaped by my sexuality and how I experienced being gay.

I would not say it is nothing because it is a part of me, but it is not all of who I am. Sure, I am gay. But, I am also a man, a lawyer, a father, a person who enjoys the water and being outdoors, etc. I am not defined solely by my sexuality - it is a part of my whole self.

 

Being biseuxal, assuming that it is just that, hasn't greatly influenced me. The only significant thing it does is that now and then the fact I like men comes up and that I can judge whether a guy is hot or not with my female friends.

Overall, assuming my bisexuality isn't connected in any other way towards my life outlook, the influence of being LGBT is minor at this point in time.

 

It's both. It's not a big deal because we are normal people who live normal boring lives but it is a big deal because of society's need to treat gay people like crap. Homosexuality is normal and found throughout all of history but it's considered a deviant lifestyle by some regardless of history. Blah.

You can tell it's major in some aspects just by the fact that we have to "come out". When we don't have to come out and can just be ourselves without fear of rejection/aren't assumed to be straight, being LGBT will be less of a major thing. When being LGBT is considered as normal as having blue eyes.

---------- Post added 2nd Sep 2011 at 01:55 PM ----------

In my life, it has a big influence because I'm closed off to discussing my emotions due to the fact that they are for girls.

 

Do I think it's a big deal I'm gay, no.
Do I think it's a big deal that certain people look down on us, yes.

 

It's a big deal to me as well because I have to figure out whether I am, in fact, gay and the implications it will have on my life. I look forward to having it all figured out and it hopefully not being a big deal anymore.

 

Depends on who you're asking.
Some people do consider it and make it a big deal
But some prefer to stay invisble.

I choose to stay invisible hence why I'm doing online school now.

 

I was in a really interesting discussion about this yesterday. Basically there's two main camps regarding this, the civil rights movement and the queer movement. The main aim of civil rights is the assimilation of GLBTIQ people into society, embracing the inherent differences, but not kicking up a huge fuss. In this, being GLBTIQ is not a huge deal and it tends to be the most prominent political movement from the GLBTIQ community at the moment. Equal marriage is high on the agenda for it.

The queer movement comes mostly from queer theory. Basically the main aim of the queer movement is the total deconstruction of gender as a concept. This basically means concepts like sexuality, marriage and some of the most basic assumptions we make when we meet people are totally invalidated. It's somewhat tied to anarchy as it's pretty easy to argue that power structures only really serve to empower the patriarchy.

 

I think it's only a big a deal as people make it out to be. If it is a cause for discrimination, then that is a problem. If someone is simply that way and happy living out their life that way with no undue discourse, then it's not a big deal.

 

I don't think it would be a big deal to me if I could convince other people not to make a big deal of it. As is, it's a bit of a frightening trait to have especially when others can tell and I can't tell how I'm tipping them off.

Only inherent problem to it I can see is that at least 90% of the populace is defacto non-dateable.

 

I don't think it's a big deal, but I don't think it's nothing either. It's who and what I am, and so many other people. No one can change that. But it's not all that we are. We are the same in this one thing, but, as for the rest, we may be totally different.
So it's just a part of who you are. Or it's not.