In full honesty people change. This isn’t to forgive negative actions but also not chastise someone to eternity for the mistakes they have made so long as they have changed and are putting in the work to undo the harm they caused. We individually and ultimately as a society need forgiveness. To be human is to error and I personally don’t want a part in any community who can not manage the humility to forgive.
A lot of younger people don’t realize how far we’ve come on gay rights in a very short period.
In 1989 84% of Americans were opposed to gay marriage. It didn’t break 50% support until 2012. By 2024 it was nearly 70% in support, and all 50 states are now over 50%.
Most of us growing up in the 80s and 90s thought homosexuality was wrong. It didn’t feel like we were prejudiced assholes at the time though.
We now know we were wrong, and many of us have worked to make things better. And young people need to accept the fact that we were wrong and have changed.
There’s something else we’re all wrong about now. An unacceptable prejudice we don’t recognize because we don’t feel like we’re biggots. I don’t know what it is and I may never get over it, but the next generation will look back and realize they were wrong about something. And the only way to move on will be to accept they were wrong, forgive themselves, and make the world better.
Gay rights. Women’s rights. Minority rights. There are people alive today who went to segregated schools and, if they had a vagina, couldn’t open a checking account.
These things are being actively scrubbed from history by people who desperately want to go back to those “good old days”. Sadly, it is working much better than it should.
A lot of younger people don’t realize how far we’ve come on gay rights in a very short period.
A while ago I heard recordings of white house press conferences from the Reagan administration when a reporter started asking about AIDS for the first time.
I was just a kid during the Reagan administration, and not the kind of kid that listened to white house press conferences, so I had no recollection of this.
It was shocking to me how casually they joked and laughed about gay people dying and how they made fun of the reporter for asking the question. It was also shocking that it wasn’t just Reagan’s press secretary but also the other reporters joining in and laughing.
In full honesty people change. This isn’t to forgive negative actions but also not chastise someone to eternity for the mistakes they have made so long as they have changed and are putting in the work to undo the harm they caused. We individually and ultimately as a society need forgiveness. To be human is to error and I personally don’t want a part in any community who can not manage the humility to forgive.
A lot of younger people don’t realize how far we’ve come on gay rights in a very short period.
In 1989 84% of Americans were opposed to gay marriage. It didn’t break 50% support until 2012. By 2024 it was nearly 70% in support, and all 50 states are now over 50%.
Most of us growing up in the 80s and 90s thought homosexuality was wrong. It didn’t feel like we were prejudiced assholes at the time though.
We now know we were wrong, and many of us have worked to make things better. And young people need to accept the fact that we were wrong and have changed.
There’s something else we’re all wrong about now. An unacceptable prejudice we don’t recognize because we don’t feel like we’re biggots. I don’t know what it is and I may never get over it, but the next generation will look back and realize they were wrong about something. And the only way to move on will be to accept they were wrong, forgive themselves, and make the world better.
It’s how we improve as a society.
Gay rights. Women’s rights. Minority rights. There are people alive today who went to segregated schools and, if they had a vagina, couldn’t open a checking account.
These things are being actively scrubbed from history by people who desperately want to go back to those “good old days”. Sadly, it is working much better than it should.
A while ago I heard recordings of white house press conferences from the Reagan administration when a reporter started asking about AIDS for the first time.
I was just a kid during the Reagan administration, and not the kind of kid that listened to white house press conferences, so I had no recollection of this.
It was shocking to me how casually they joked and laughed about gay people dying and how they made fun of the reporter for asking the question. It was also shocking that it wasn’t just Reagan’s press secretary but also the other reporters joining in and laughing.
I found a link to it for another post recently:
When Aids Was Funny
:(
Thanks for the share.