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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Hop Against Homophobia



Hello, this is S. L. (Steph) Danielson and this is my reason for joining the Hop Against Homophobia.

I have all kinds of friends, from my early years..gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, you name it. Everything under the LGBTQ umbrella. Many have changed my life forever, in very, very good ways...which is one reason I write the genre I do.

In my opinion, homophobia is like any other phobia...if you break down the word, it's fear. Plain and simple. Fear of anything or anyone different than ourselves.

I grew up in a small town in West Virginia... we had one black kid in our entire school, so diversity was certainly not something I grew up learning. Anything or anyone different was not discussed favorably in our household, if at all. It was a very homogenous environment, where everything was the same, nothing changed.

Then we moved to an enormous city where everything changed. When I was 16, I met my first ever openly-gay friend. His name was Daniel, and of course I had a crush on him at first, but I simply enjoyed his company, and being his friend. It never mattered to me at all that he was gay.

He is part of what inspired what I write today. Male/Male romantic fiction, where they are loved and respected, and treated no differently than all the other people I know. Today I have not only over a dozen books, and fans who love how real the characters are, but support (in a sense) from my family....(but at a distance). That isn't real support in my head, my mother thinks I was brainswashed, and my father, though a fan, thinks that being gay is 'sick'.

To me, being gay is not at all sick, to me you are born that way and it is part of who that person is. It doesn't matter to me at all, I'll still be their friend. Skin color, eye color, nationality, religion....sexual orientation. Doesn't matter. I was raised Catholic but am at heart a Christian, who loves all of God's children.

My final word on homophobia? It's an excuse. No more excuses. People are people. Treat everyone the same.

24 comments:

  1. Good morning, I wanted to say how much I admire you for banding together with so many authors for such a worthy cause. Good luck in your endeavors.

    Missy Martine
    missymartine@comcast.net
    www.missymartine.com

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  2. I agree with you there can be no excuses for homophobia.

    musings-of-a-bookworm@hotmail.co.uk

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  3. Completly agree with you.

    gisu29@gmail.com

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  4. You're right and thank you for standing up for what you believe.

    andreagrendahl AT gmail DOT com

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  5. fear fuels homophobia I think. Fear of what? Being different. though everyone is different these days. Thanks for sharing

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  6. You grew up in West Virginia? Me too. I'm still living here, born and raised, went to Marshall University. Thanks for the post.<3

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    1. Hello, fellow Mountaineer! Always great to find a fellow WVian :)

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  7. New blog follower - thanks for your story... I too, have a bunch of GLBTQ folks around me (and me and my husband are bi as well) -- and for us, we see and share the problems of homophobia every day on one level or another...

    I had to laugh when you talked about your parents... we have similar family members who are like that too...

    Keep up the great work and keep writing those stories!

    romancewiththeflemingtonsDotblogspotDotcom

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  8. Whew! I've been reading amazing posts all day... sorry so late getting to yours. Thanks for hopping with me. :) And thanks for making the world a safer place for my brother to live in, and a more tolerant place for my daughter to grow up in.

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  9. If I can quote Lady GaGa - Baby they were born that way (okay, I changed it a little). but you get the gist. People no matter who they are, are equal in my eyes. Cut and we all bleed red. Thank you for this post.

    normanielsen@bigpond.com

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  10. I do think that lack of diversity in some areas really fosters an US against Them mentality. My parents, though they try not to be bigoted, are what I call 'casually racist'. It is not intentional, it is just that it is so ingrained in their culture that they know no other way.

    The pendulum is swinging back that way, I fear. We've made gains over the years, but the hate talk is getting progressively worse. My BF's daughters think nothing of calling something they feel is stupid 'gay'. I ask them how they would feel if someone said, "Oh, that's so girl." Or 'fat' or 'black'. They seem to realize that these other terms are not acceptable, but because their friends use the term 'gay' to mean something uncool and dorky, then it's okay.

    We have a long way to go. :-(

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    1. I agree completely, and this is exactly how I was raised, but yet my own nephews say someone is 'gay' in a derogatory way and it drives me nuts; and I let them know that it's not right to do that, not ever.

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  11. This has been a terrific first day for this hop...thank you all for your comments, support, and encouragement :)

    As a thank you, I offer up a copy of one of my favorite books: Love by the Numbers as a prize to one of my commenters during this hop.

    Let's spread the word to stop homophobia!

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  12. So true! And so thrilled that we Christians are beginning to make our inclusive stance known. I'm fed up with everyone thinking we don't like GLBTQ people because of the media - that's just not true!!

    Time to get the real message out :))

    Anne
    xxx

    albrookeATmeDOTcom

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  13. Thanks for participating in the hop. This is a great cause that I pray one day will not be needed.

    forettarose@yahoo.com

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  14. Great blog! We should all be treated equally.
    Yvette
    yratpatrol@aol.com

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  15. Great post. Equality for all should be a given, not something that has to be fought for.

    lmbrownauthor at gmail dot com

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  16. Thanks for sharing with us!

    burchills AT gmail DOT com

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  17. Thanks for taking part, Steph :)

    Erica
    eripike at gmail dot com

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  18. Thanks for participating in this hop. I'm enjoying all the great blog posts.

    penumbrareads(at)gmail(dot)com

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  19. Great post, Steph. People are people, love is love, and it shouldn't make a difference to us what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. I'm so sorry that your parents don't support your writing though. Here's hoping they come around some day.

    ashley.vanburen[at]gmail[dot]com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ashley...I doubt they will, but at least I can talk about it in front of them, to an extent.

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  20. Love the post. The hop has been great.

    peggy1984@live.com

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