The image above is of a Penn State student named Spencer near the HUB. He has a gay pride flag thrown over his shoulder and I had a few minutes of his time to talk about his views.
The word I decided to capture this week was: BRAVERY
My favorite service organization, GlobeMed, was out asking the question “What Makes You Happy?” The respondents would put their answers on a white board and get their picture taken with it. Spencer, above, answered “Queer Pride.” Just to get this out of the way, I find nothing wrong with his response and believe if that is his choice then he has a right to make that choice. All of the GlobeMed members felt the same way and we were all happy to see all the different types of people and responses we were receiving.
After we took his picture, we all had a conversation and shortly after, his views on gay rights came up. The topic came about after one of our members joked about how it wasn’t fair that gay people have their own parade about sexuality, but heterosexual people don’t. Spencer replied by saying that “heterosexual people and relationships are being celebrated everyday with every marriage, child birth, and kiss on the sidewalk you see.” He continued on saying “if a gay wanted to do that then they would take shit for it and it would be socially unacceptable.”
This stuck with me for a little bit and began to think about something. Spencer displaying this flag on his shoulder alone is viewed as socially unacceptable. You can tell by the way people in the back are looking at him. Many of you guys (english classmates) know that I am in ROTC. So I asked myself: is Spencer braver for walking around a college campus supporting gay rights, than I am trying to fight for my country?
Make no mistake, there are people out there who would like to kill us both. I will hopefully never be in the line of battle though (unless I become a pilot). We are also fighting for causes that are much greater than ourselves. I’m fighting for my country and Spencer is battling opinions for gay rights. When I walk around in ROTC apparel I receive thank you’s and respect. Spencer often receives offensive terms and disgust. So what do you guys think? Who is the braver person? *(you dont have to compare myself specifically to him, but any service member in general)*