[subjectsigma]

I have met several LGBT people who refer to heterosexual people by perjoratives like "the straights" and "cis scum" and openly mock things like traditional marriage ceremonies. Like, in real conversations. To people's faces.

Unsurprisingly, straight people do not like this. People do not step back and say, "Gee, this person has clearly had some bad experiences that made them this much of a snarky asshole. Overall heterosexual people are not persecuted and homosexual people often are, so I shouldn't feel like my way of life is under existential threat. These verbal jabs can't really hurt me."

Nobody thinks like this. They just get mad.

Now is this scenario really relevant to actual discussion of what "equality" and "oppression" mean? Not really. But on the Internet we very quickly reach the lowest common denominator of discussion.

[streamlining]

> I have met several LGBT people who refer to heterosexual people by perjoratives like "the straights" and "cis scum" and openly mock things like traditional marriage ceremonies. Like, in real conversations. To people's faces.

And a gay person has probably encountered thousands of people that have attitudes like that toward their sexuality... I really don't know what your point is.

I went to a well-known hippie college and knew people that were gender studies majors, LGBT, etc., and none of them resemble your characterization.

[subjectsigma]

Regarding the grandparent comment:

> "To the privileged, equality feels like oppression."

My point is that the quote is accurate, but in an upside-down-and-backwards way. The privileged, by and large, aren't sitting around in country clubs smoking fat cigars and complaining about how they now have to tolerate degenerates. They are everyday people who now have to deal with new ideas they don't understand and might not like, especially if the people presenting them are actively antagonistic about it. Even though feeling oppressed != being oppressed, it's easy to understand how that could feel oppressive, and could prompt backlash.

Hence the parent comment:

> This is a low effort "gotcha" way of dismissing the real feelings of humans who are struggling to reconcile their deeply held desires with what they perceive in media.

---

A personal example: I have no problem with gay people. There was a thread about polyamory posted a while back, though. I absolutely hate the idea and I find I don't get along with people who subscribe to it. I have trouble reconciling my belief that people, politically and socially, should be mostly free to do whatever they want, with the fact that I think polyamory is just gross and a bad idea. The few people in the polyamory community I have met didn't, uh, make this any easier.

[streamlining]

You really can't refrain from sharing your prejudices apparently.

I was born and am a good example of a privileged straight white male... so why is it that I have absolutely no trouble distinguishing between the minuscule number of zealous or hateful gay people out there, many of whom hold no position of power in society, in contrast to the large group of dimwitted retrogrades who are unable to reckon with the personal freedoms of others? These are the same people that gravitate toward religious lunacy and repressive politics in general all over the world.

I wonder why you even bring up homosexuality and polyamory together. Maybe next you'll dig up some stats to associate the two, but what you don't understand is that there's another way to live entirely and it's this... I don't care at all about the consensual romantic lives of other adults, I try to avoid characterizing gay, straight or really any large cohort of people as a group, and I especially don't feel any need to justify my straightness to anyone at all. It's pretty simple.

[subjectsigma]

> You really can't refrain from sharing your prejudices apparently.

Part of my point is that most people can't or don't. Should it be different? Yes. Is it going to be? Not anytime soon. Does this mean you think these people are categorically evil?

> in contrast to the large group of dimwitted retrogrades who are unable to reckon with the personal freedoms of others? These are the same people that gravitate toward religious lunacy and repressive politics in general all over the world.

Apparently so... I think that's pretty ironic. You're asking me to be empathetic, to not stereotype, and to see the bigger picture. But you think everyone who doesn't feel exactly as you do is a lunatic or a fascist?

Look, the spirit of the original comment thread wasn't criticizing any specific group of people, it was saying that equality doesn't happen overnight. Not everyone is 100% on board all the time, or will even always agree with what equality means. Accept that change is slow and hard, and empathize with the normies who you clearly think are beneath you, and I promise you will win more hearts and minds.