Reactions from reading articles about the LGBTQ community

After reading Boy Meets Boy and the articles that went along with it, I found it interesting that gay and lesbian adolescents are “frequently depicted as guilty, ashamed, bitter, desperately unhappy individuals who would give anything to be “normal” (McLean, p. 183). This community of people needs more literature that focuses on positive experiences of coming out that show that it is ok to be who they are rather than be ashamed. After reading this article, I started to think about the different movies and novels that I have read about the LGBTQ population and every one that I could think of portrayed a main character that struggled in some way. As I brought up in class, I also began thinking about how gay people seem to be associated with AIDS, which makes people misunderstand this population even more. It also struck me that these stereotypes are more associated with the gay population and not so much the lesbian population. The article made the connection that the Old Testament injunctions against homosexuality are directed toward males and this may be why so many of the novels written today about gays, ends in some sort of death or tragedy. I thought that Levithan made an important point in his article by stating, “being gay is not an issue, it is an identity. It is not something that you can agree or disagree with. It is a fact, and must be defended and represented as a fact.” People need to recognize this as a valid point and realize that just as people identify with their racial identity as a large part of who they are, being gay is a large part of who a person is. It is not just a label; it is a part of a person’s identity.