Old Spice deodorant and a hair straighten, masculine and feminine.Photo by Eric Ramirez

By Eric Ramirez

Copy editor

Discrimination within the gay community is nothing short of disappointing and embarrassing. And while I hate to call out the boys, it is mostly our fault.

I worked in retail during high school. One day, this guy came in looking for skinny jeans … girl’s skinny jeans. It wasn’t the first time a guy came in looking for a tighter fit, but when I was ringing up his purchase, I heard a rather masculine gay couple in line behind him say “fag” under their breaths.

I’ve said it before: it all comes down to the gender binary, that stupid societal virus that dictates the lines between masculinity and femininity. And while this isn’t the case, it is assumed that masculinity is cold, strong and runs low on emotion, more unlikely to reject homosexuality.

Does it really matter if one gay guy likes to go off-roading while the other would rather get his nails done? Who cares if one wears cargo shorts and the other wears salmon-colored jorts? Apparently some of those more masculine gays do. They call themselves “straight acting,” as if they weren’t just as gay as the more feminine guy. Hell, I love going to shooting ranges and I had glitter in my hair during my senior prom. It’s very possible to have both masculine and feminine aspects to your personality, most gay guys do, and its important to respect those varying levels.

It is commonly seen in dating, guys saying things like “if I am going to be with a guy, I want him to actually be a guy.” That’s fine, great. Everyone has a type. But discriminating against another gay guy because he is more feminine is wrong. You don’t have to date feminine men if you don’t want to, but you do have to accept them.

And it isn’t just feminine gay guys; bisexuals are discriminated against as well. Some people believe that bisexuality isn’t even a real thing. Seriously? They aren’t mythological creatures. Is it so hard to imagine that people out there are attracted to both men and women? Is it so hard to understand a sexuality other than your own?

How is it that we can discriminate amongst ourselves when we have enough to deal with outside of the LGBTQ community? We don’t yet have the right to marry in all 50 states and homophobia is still a very real issue. The last thing LGBTQ people should be doing is discriminating against others that are in the same LGBTQ community.

The fact of the matter is that there are still people in the world who hate members of the LGBTQ community. It has gotten exponentially better in recent years, but there is still a long way to go. So why on earth would we hate the people we should be looking out for?