Did/do you ever feel that you have to be great to be accepted?

Philippines
May 14, 2008 4:36am CST
Life is unfair. Some people are mean social animals. Some will judge you base on the size of you wallet, how shine your car is or how many diplomas you got hanging on your walls. As a gay person, did you or do you ever feel as if you have to do more, be better or be great just so you can be accepted? Me, I have tried to make people like me using my talents in high school. I was student body president, editor in chief and an honor student. I was completely closeted then and I felt as though I have to prove something first so that people won't think less of me when I finally decided to reveal who I truly am. My status did help me because no one tried to harass me in high school when I was found out to be gay. But I thought it was sad to think that people will only respect you because they see your status (the greatness) and not the whole package. I somewhat feel the same way, I can't help but feel that I needed to be the best to undo the prejudice of weakness that people had associated with gayness. Do we always have to prove ourselves? o_O
1 response
II2aTee
@II2aTee (2559)
• United States
15 May 08
Welcome to MyLot. This is a dangerous subject to answer. Do I think that being openly gay has made me a strong person? No doubt about it. Do I think it has made me stronger than straight people? Heck no. When I has in High School I will admit I had that "Everyone is against me" mentality. But growing up and going to college and working in the real world I realized that most people are only out for themselves and could care less what I do with my life. It was a hard lesson to learn that I was not the center of the universe, but it was deffinatly an important step in the direction of maturity. I am gay. But I refuse to play that card anymore in my daily affairs. Unless it is blantantly obvious that I am being discriminated against because of my sexuality. If someone dosent like ME - as a person - it is all to easy to throw up my hands and say "They are homophobic!" When that is really not the case. The more difficult path - also known as the "high road" would be to probe into the REAL issues behind the problem. Find the REAL source of contention, and work my way out from there. Does that mean I wont stand up for equal rights? Does that mean I will hide that important part of myself so no one sees it? NO! I'm an advocate through and through. But I can balance that with the knowledge that ALL people are discriminated against. ALL people have to fight every single day just to gain an inch. Me being gay dosent make me special. Peoples opinions on homosexuals can change. I have seen it happen before my eyes many times. The people who profess the greatest disdain for homosexuals most likely never had dealings with one, or are drawing on a bad experience they had with someone whos gay. I'm about changing attitudes. And if I want people to respect ME -for- ME, then I need to show them more of myself than just my sexuality. Ghandi said you must be the change you wish to see in the world.