As of recent, people with bigotry or hateful rhetoric have been using our freedoms and rights as American citizens as means to mask their true intentions. For example, you may have heard, “Everyone is so sensitive these days,” or “(Insert blatantly racist remark) I have freedom of speech, you can not change how I feel. I have a right to my opinion.” I have especially seen these remarks now being inserted in reference to transgender people, and bisexual men. The commonality I have seen between the two groups is how many people, especially women, are reluctant to dating either member of the LGBTQ community.

Now if you happen to meet someone who is transgender or a bisexual man and they are completely rude, obnoxious, no manners and their personality is not your cup of tea that is completely fine. But to not date them off the basis of how they identify is prejudice. Some people have decided to mask this prejudice with what may become the most oversaturated word of 2018, preference.

The definition of preference is to have a greater liking for one alternative over another or others. But to have this greater liking that means you must have at least one experience with the alternatives, no? I have tried three of the most common flavors of ice cream you can find; vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. Within those three only strawberry is likely to make me vomit, vanilla is tolerable but 99.999% of the time, I am going with chocolate. I am able to counter anyone’s remark about which is the best flavor because I have experience with all three and which one does it for me the best. Without that actual experience and you refuse to date someone outside of them being a jerk or they just do not give you a romantic spark, you are being prejudice. The definition of prejudice is to have a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. If this is pointed out to you yet you continue to say it is “just my preference” you’re full of shit and purposefully being ignorant and prejudice.

As a member of the “L” in LGBTQ I can wholeheartedly admit I have tried being straight and then bisexual and dating guys. From those experiences I know for sure that the “L” is my home and will always be my home. Not all lesbians have this experience of going through the dating process they just know but they know men is not their attraction from actually meeting men and interacting with men on many levels. Some people who say they would not date a transgender person or bisexual man have not even interacted with them on any level outside of the news and media to make that decision. If lesbians went off of what we saw on television about men we would take up arms to kill them off the planet.

Nobody of the LGBTQ community is trying to force anything upon anyone. I promise you there is no gay agenda being forced onto anyone (or maybe I just have not been invited to the meetings). People of the LGBTQ community just want to be treated as humans and given the fair treatment they see hetreosexual people attain.