Why you shouldn't make fun of someone's sexuality and/or Gender Identity

Sexual orientation is the attraction towards a person with an opposite or similar gender to their own, while gender identity is how they perceive themselves. Both sexual orientation and gender identity affect nearly everyone, even for people who are heterosexuals or cis. Gender identity and sexual orientation isn’t or has never been a thing for members of the LGBTQ+ only, they are for everyone. Everyone labels themselves in sexual orientation and a lot of people have a gender identity of their own as well. It isn’t really a smart idea to poke fun at those who are proud of their sexual orientation or gender identity when those who poke fun are also usually proud of their own sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is an important matter and a lot of people do make fun of these things, whilst also having sexuality or gender identity. It creates animosity within themselves, and in turn, it affects everyone. If you make fun of someone, they will in turn make fun of you. This form of teasing and not accepting one-another creates a bigger divide in our community and can result in people being more and more alienated for things they can’t control. We have no right to decide another person’s gender identity or sexuality, we never spend a second in their brain and body and we all don’t know what they’re experiencing. We are using our own personal lives to judge those who live differently from ourselves. It doesn’t matter if you’re cis or transgender, straight or homosexual, if you fail to respect the other person's gender and sexuality, you are not only alienating yourself but in turn make people not like you as well as your gender identity or sexuality.

If you yourself deal with this issue of wanting to control someone else's gender or sexuality so you can feel more comfortable in your reality, you should take a step back and educate yourself on a topic before making these types of decisions. By not learning or educating yourself, you are just as bad as those who bully or hurt other people for their gender identity and/or sexuality. Educating yourself and those at a younger age, those who can understand accepting others and themselves better than a lot of adults, would be the best way to stop this growing divide between us.

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25th March: Title edited by Lily M.