“Owning Heterosexual Privilege”

At Queers United, there is a powerful video posted asking the question “Whar if Gay Were Considered the Norm?”, a quesion that many LGBT people are likely to have at least thought about.What caught my interest, though, was the posting of the same video at womanist musings

“I cannot imagine a society in which I would have to hide my love for fear of rejection, or in some cases violence because this has never been a part of my life. I have always known that my relationship would be validated because we privilege heterosexuality. I have never feared owning my relationship publicly.

No one deserves to be “othered,” because of their sexual orientation and I do believe this video gives heterosexual people a small taste of what life would be like if suddenly their/our love was considered unnatural, or unworthy.  It is privilege that normally causes us to avoid placing ourselves in untenable positions that we are often all ready to create for those that we consider to be other.”

Have a look at the video, then read the comments.  It is encouraging to be reminded that we have allies, and that some at least are willing to make the effort of imagination required to approach real understanding.

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