Some say ignorance is bliss, I say ignorance is for people who would rather lazily stay in the confines of their conservative comfort-zone minds. Maybe it is blissful to live ignorantly; but I think that's a crock of shit.
It's rather frustrating to be waiting at a bus stop not knowing if you've just missed your bus or if it's a little late. Since I had forgotten my cell phone at home yesterday, I was completely unaware of what time it was when I got off the 21 to catch a 7. No one was in the bus shelter to ask, so I just hoped that I was early.
I had a song on repeat and I listened to it five times. The song is probably three minutes long; needless to say, I was standing there quite a long time before the bus arrived. As I got on the bus, I noticed the driver is one who is always late. She really takes her time, but that's mostly because she's enjoying her time chatting with her riders, which is rather endearing except when it’s complete ignorant trash.
When I sat down, I overheard the word “lesbian” so I paused my iPod and listened to the conversation. Of course I didn't get to hear everything as I had chosen to sit towards the middle of the bus, but I did hear enough to get rather upset:
“It just doesn’t make sense for a woman to be attracted to another woman.”
“I think that all lesbians once had boyfriends who didn’t treat them right.”
“And they probably had ‘Daddy issues’ too”
After awhile, I couldn’t stand hearing anything more so I pressed play and zoned out. As I got off the bus, I was told to have a good night. Out of habit, I returned the wish, but wanted to say:
“I’m a flaming lesbian who has had boyfriends who treated her really well but the fact is, I’m not sexually attracted to men but I am sexually attracted to women. And yes, I have had issues with my father, but why the hell should my relationship with my dad have anything to do with who I want to fuck?”
If something like this happens again, I'm going to speak-up. Unless someone is told otherwise, they'll continue to believe the myths that have been created to make some sort of sense out of the unknown, the strange, the seemingly impossible. If I merely get worked-up when people share ignorant thoughts or ideas that I could somehow correct, I am morally obligated to do so unless I want to end-up seething about it. If I let the ignorance continue, I haven't done my part to debunk the myths, to provide truth and education. So, from here on out, I'll do my best to make some sort of statement. It may start an argument, but perhaps that person will see how upset they've made someone by the comments they were making. Maybe they'll decide to keep their thoughts to themselves. Or maybe their opinions will change if given adequate education.
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