Highlights from Dan Savage’s talk
Posted By Caulimovirus on October 18, 2010
.: Dan Savage was invited to give a talk at Rutgers about his It Gets Better Project. The gist of it was something like, “Gay teenagers are routinely abused in schools throughout the country, and they — unlike victims of regular bullying — often have no one to turn to because their parents/church/community disapproves of homosexuality; let’s let them know that it isn’t always like this, and that when they grow up they won’t have it so hard.”
.: I don’t want to cover all of what transpired because I feel pretty terrible right now (physiologically, not emotionally), so I’ll just paraphrase the bits I felt were good enough to jot down:
.: On people who think sexual orientation is a choice:
I would love to corner Tony Perkins in a room and ask him, “Okay, so you think it’s a choice. Prove it to me. Flip that switch and suck my dick. And don’t let it be OZ-like sucking; you’re not allowed to have tears streaming down your cheeks. You have to like it.”
.: On people who claim to believe the testimonies of ex-gays:
The best counter is to ask them, “Would you want your daughter to marry one?” And you know they wouldn’t because they know it’s bullshit.
.: On bigotry and bad people in the LGBTQ community:
People shouldn’t get a pass just because they’re gay. Assholes are everywhere. Jeffrey Dahmer ate one of my friends. You can’t just assume people are nice, even in your own groups.
.: On the hurt feelings of disapproving-but-loving bigots:
.: The event was recorded in case you suspect my paraphrasings did not do justice to his words (which they did not). If I find a link to it, I’ll be sure to post it.
When you mentioned he was speaking, I should have known it was about the “It Gets Better” project. He’s doing a good job getting the word out.