I Never Knew What Gay Meant Until People Made Fun Of It

Human beings are curious by nature, but we all respond to that innate curiosity differently. Some of us seek to further understand the unknown by learning about it; others simply laugh at it. At a certain age, doing the latter makes sense. Kids laugh at almost anything. Sometimes that's the appropriate response due to the nature of the subject. There is definitely a time and place to discuss certain things, like the birds and the bees, in an age-appropriate way. It only becomes a problem when that laughter follows us into adulthood and transforms into bullying and ignorance.

I never knew what gay meant until my peers made fun of it. I couldn't have been any older than a third grader at the time. Whatever was being made fun of had nothing to do with actually being gay. It was actually something like a boy having a pink pencil or something like that. "That's gay!" the kids would jeer. Anything that didn't conform to gender stereotypes was labeled as "gay," and you would be ridiculed for it.

It was so confusing. My family came from a country where being gay was not a big deal, and that mindset is one I still carry today. Variety television in that country often featured members of the LGBTQ+ community just as they would any other contestant or guest. There were even segments with talent shows and pageants specifically for the LGBTQ+ community. These shows weren't something you would see only on specific channels in that country; it was daytime television. And before accusations of the country being heathens and straying from God as the reason for this "demonic way of thinking," over 86% of its citizens are Roman Catholic.

So why is it so different in America? Could it be because of how the LBGTQ+ community is portrayed in the media? Or could it be the connotation of gay being wrong becoming so intertwined with our mindset from elementary school and beyond? Don't get me wrong; I am proud to be an American. I am thankful for the privileges I have as an American, and I would not trade it to be a citizen of another country. However, as human beings, the nations of the world are our peers, and we still have a lot we can learn from them.