The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Opinions

HEATHER LITTLE

Oh wow! A gay couple! Look!

It was a pretty girl with shiny hair and carefully applied makeup, as "normal" as they come, commenting for all to hear as she watched two young women in a restaurant downtown.

She wrinkled her face in disgust and pointed at them.

The two women were standing in line to order pizza with their arms around each other, hugging and holding hands - just like many straight couples in front of them.

The speaker's comments made it clear she saw nothing normal or pleasant about this scene.

She ranted about how "disgusting" and "rude" and "gross" it was to see gay couples displaying affection in public.

I was shocked.

This was a restaurant staffed and patronized by men and women of all varieties, with tattoos and piercings.

And this girl was disgusted by a little lesbian public display of affection?

She looked like a nice girl.

Why, I thought, was she so intolerant?

After all, Athens is not just another small Southern town in the middle of nowhere.

We are a sophisticated, modern community an hour from Atlanta, the largest city in the Southeast, which hosts a thriving gay population.

We attend the University of Georgia, a distinguished research institute with a diverse student body with, I would guess, as many liberal and forward-looking students as hard-line conservatives.

This girl must have been out of the loop for the last decade because gay couples no longer are pariahs.

They even - gasp! - should be treated the same as everyone else.

So why is it taking this little darling so long to grasp this concept?

I understand many students' religious beliefs condemn homosexuality.

I understand that we are in the South, the land of age-old traditions and, yes, prejudices.

But I don't think those are valid excuses anymore.

It is 2008.

We have to adapt to changing cultural standards of propriety.

Our religions are not excuses for public ridicule of a harmless couple. Even if we have a heritage of intolerance and hate, we are not entitled to continue discrimination.

I'm not trying to start an argument about what Jesus said about homosexuality.

However, I will remind you he did say, "Love thy neighbor."

I'm concerned we all will get a bad rap because some among us refuse to accept differences in others.

We should not condemn or judge gay couples, much less publicly grimace or complain about them.

If each of us does not show tolerance and acceptance, we accept that hate and close-mindedness still have room in our changing society.

And that would be wrong.


- Heather Little is a senior from Gainesville majoring in newspapers.

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