UPDATE: Lindsay Smith has posted on her own blog about her experience in the back-and-forth that occurred (and will no doubt continue to occur with others) on Twitter. Check it out here!
ORIGINAL POST: Last night, a Twitter exchange began between an LGBT advocate and, probably bored, high schoolers who were, again, probably, looking for an “easy” fight to pick.
What followed was an sad example of what some teenagers (here represented by at least one Georgian Catholic) believe. Cason Robbins, a high school junior, repeatedly calls people “fags” and “dykes” and then openly laugh at them and mock their struggles. When one LGBT supporter, Lindsay Smith, clarifies for him that she is not a supporter not lesbian, he decides to mock her short hairstyle, saying “I would believe it if you didn’t have the haircut of a dude.”
As she explains, in a heart breaking and deservedly angry rebuttal, she’s a cancer survivor. After another round of continued laughter from the high schooler, Smith makes this statement, “These things you say with such conviction, they hurt people. And that is not why God was brought here to do.” I interpreted this emotionally-charged yet absolutely sincere statement to mean “that is not what god intended for us to do.”
Robbins responded, “I understand and I apologize.”
Smith is one of my new heroes. Sure, she uses some serious language in the exchange but this is a volatile topic and she has enough to be charged about without feeling the need to explain herself to anyone. I hope Robbins does understand and hope that whatever discriminatory views he had (or still has lingering) toward LGBT people are being washed away in the light of this exchange. There may be hope for the future if more people listen and understand that discrimination against anyone is pointless and irresponsible.
Tommy Karr 