Most people in the world act the way they do because of what they were taught by their culture around them and that is what determines how a person sees things in either a negative way or positive. People believe in many different things and usually you can retrace those thoughts back to when the person was growing up. Children these days are influenced by their culture around and that is what usually determines what the person will think of the outside world. Mia (a friend of Mrs. D’Amato) explains her thoughts on why LGBT people are hated by others, “People hate the groups they’ve been taught to hate by their culture around them”(D’Amato 2). When Mia says, “people hate the groups they’ve been taught to hate” she really means people just dont starting hating people for no good reason unless they find something that is unappealing about the person personality. Usually people believe that they are right about many things and when they see people living their life style different, they believe they are wrong and will do anything to change it. Also she says, “By their culture around them.” This means that the culture around them is what influences your thoughts. For example if a person lived in San Francisco they would be very open to marriage equality because they grow in a very open environment. If a person grew up in Virginia people might not be as open to marriage equality as San Francisco. The culture around that person will really influence that person perspective on life. In conclusion, most people in the world act the way they do because of what they were taught by their culture around them.
Gender roles are always known in every society you are in whether it is in the city or in the suburbs, but that just means that some of the rules may be bent. For example in San Francisco many people don’t usually follow the rules of gender roles. But in most suburban areas gender roles are usually followed. Mia says, “While actually a lot of people, gay or straight, don’t fit those gender roles, I find people with strong beliefs about gender also have a hard time with gays”(D’mato 2). Most people with strong beliefs about gender roles would have a hard time with guys because most of the time they break those specific gender roles. Also what she is trying to say when she says “while actually a lot of people, gay or strait, don’t fit those gender roles” is that if you look very close you can see that gay and strait people are actually similar. So if they are similar then why aren’t gay people aloud to get married but strait people are aloud to get married. Overall, many people strait or gay both don’t follow all of the specific gender rules and that brings up the question why do the strait people get to marry and not gay.
Homophobic people have been discriminating for so long that many people can't really remember when it had began, but they all know when it ends. Homophobic believe have started right from the beginning but the beginning is very unclear. Discrimination for many different people has been know for a long time but the beginning of gay discrimination is not really know. Mia addresses this issue by saying, “I think that homophobia is so apart of our culture, that I MOST remember the moments that the legal discrimination ended, rather than when it started”(D'amato 3). This social injustice has been going on so long that know one can remember when it started. Much like Romeo and Juliet were the two families have been fighting for so long that neither of the families know why they are fighting. Also since many people don't know when it started all they can remember is when all of this discrimination ended. Overall, many people know when the discrimination had ended, but no one really knows when the discrimination began.
Depending on where you live the discrimination of LGBT people can either be low or high. People act differently because of where they grew and because of the culture around them that had influenced them. Mia explains, “Most people in San Francisco are much more accepting than that - but even some families within Gateway are still very homophobic.” Basically what Mia is trying to say is that depending where you grow up peoples beliefs on Marriage Equality differ. For example, in Virginia it has been known for being very discriminatory towards gay people, but here in San Francisco it has been know to be less discriminatory towards gay people. Depending on where you live their will either be high or low discrimination. When Mia says, “families within Gateway are still very homophobic” she means that everywhere there are going to be some people with homophobic beliefs. Even if you are in a city that is very open to other peoples beliefs you still have homophobic people. Overall, discrimination varies and really depends on where you grow up or live.
One of the qualities that is needed for the Marriage Equality movement and just regular life is courage. In the Marriage Equality movement there are a lot of different protest in which they take to the street. Sometimes protest may get out of hand and police need to step in and that is when the quality of courage comes in. Mia says, “I was followed home from school by people yelling faggot. As an adult, I’ve had people throw drinks in my face at a bar and yell faggot...”(D’amato 2). Courage doesn’t only have to be used in a movement but also in regular life. When people join a large movement their lives start to revolve around it. So they take all of the pain and rude comments that might come with a movement. That is why as person needs to have courage so that they way they will be able to deal with a movement. Overall, courage is needed to fuel a movement but also to keep it supporters at hand.
Another very important quality needed for the Marriage Equality movement is patience. In most movements there is something that activist want to change because they feel that it is unfair or unjust. Everyone needs to have patience because a social movement does not succeed overnight. Mia says, “Everyday we waited to hear of the Supreme Court was going to rule….personally I just had to tune it out, because it meant too much to me it was kind of too much too be waiting”(D’amato 1). Patience is need in a case like this. The proposition DOMA was being decided and many people of the Marriage Equality movement were very nervous for the results. Mia said that she had to tune it out, which was one of her methods of trying to be patient. Many people were nervous to hear what was going to be decided, but in the end they all had to be patient. Overall, patience is need in any social movement needs patience in any situation.