Slash and Gay Rights
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|---|---|
| Title: | Slash and Gay Rights |
| Creator: | Aja |
| Date(s): | February 2, 2004 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter is mentioned |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Slash and Gay Rights |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Slash and Gay Rights is a 2004 essay by Aja.
It is part of a 2002-04 series of essays. See About Writing.
Excerpts
Recently, in a post that is now deleted, someone on my friends list stated that even though she was a slasher she could not support gay marriage. I was going to respond to her on her original post but my reply got so long I decided to do it here instead. Let me just state right off the bat that I'm making this public for a while because I welcome discussion of this topic, and I really want not only the person to whom this post was initially addressed, but everybody who reads this who might be opposed to gay marriage, to see it not as an attack, but as an earnest exhortation to think and rethink and reconsider your position.
The original poster's entry was basically, 'I read and write slash, but I can't support gay marriage--I believe it's something ordained by God.' Also, the poster went on to say in a thread that they weren't sure how slash fit into their entire belief system and that they might stop reading it.
So. Okay.
This particular stance offends me *deeply*.
I'm even more offended by all the people that are saying, "I'm proud of anyone who says this for having the guts to say what you believe." I mean, sure, it'd be okay if you voiced your opinion amid a crowd of angry people who felt different from you. You could do that and I'd cheer for you, right on, defend to the death your right to say it, blah blah blah.
But this is different from that--my reaction to this post is different from that.
Because you-- you... you WRITE SLASH.
it is one thing to say "I appreciate Vladimir Nabokov's work Lolita for its literary elements; but I would never condone adult/child relationships, as I find them morally offensive."
It is *not* the same thing to say, "Even though I write about gay relationships and read about gay relationships, even though I have a community of people who write about gay relationships on my friends list, even though I spend a good deal of time co-existing and communing with people who write about gay relationships, the very idea of socially legitimizing gay relationships offends me."
Saying that openly is NOT something to be proud of. I'm sorry. Saying that openly makes you a hypocrite. One step above a coward, to be sure, but a hypocrite.
I am *deeply* offended by the hypocrisy inherent in writing about gay relationships but not supporting healthy gay relationships in reality. I am deeply hurt and upset, if you can't tell already, that my fanfiction is being read and enjoyed by someone who is willfully misunderstanding everything that my fics are meant to promote, everything that they are meant to be in support of. Anyone who enjoys my fiction but who doesn't support gay marriage is diametrically opposed to every basic fundamental reason behind why I write. It offends me and bothers me more than I can say.