We all know Logan Paul. The Youtube star has become infamous for his controversial (and sometimes triggering and damaging) stunts. You would want to believe that the young star would have learned from his past mistakes, but he rang in the New Year by saying on a podcast that as part of his New Years Resolution, he was "going gay" for a month. The ramifications of this ridiculous statement came immediately as the internet (specifically Twitter) exploded in an understandable furry.
Most of the criticism Logan Paul received was around him implying that being gay is a choice. I don't know why this needs to be said so many times, but being gay is NOT a choice. There is actually some newer scientific research that links being LGBT with brain chemistry. People who transition actually have been found to have the same (if not similar) brain chemistry and brain make up of the gender they identify as rather than that of the gender they are assigned at birth. LGB people have also been seen to have unique brain make-ups which have been linked to their sexuality. By science, being gay or being transgender is not a choice.
There is also the criticism Logan Paul is facing that I truly want to address. His nonchalant approach to "going gay" has been taken extremely hard by those who have fought and struggled and suffered for people my age to have the right to marry whomever they love. Living in the United States, I am truly blessed to have this right. Despite this huge step forward, I, as a bisexual female, have been refused service because I walked into a restaurant with my girlfriend. I have been asked to leave stores because the owners did not want my business since I was open about my same-sex relationship. This is the next battle we in the LGBT community are fighting.
But, in Chechnya, LGBT folks are being rounded up and "relocated" into camps where they are tortured and (sometimes) killed. There are still countries where being LGBT is punishable by public execution. Engaging in same-sex intercourse is punishable by public whippings. There are countries where families of LGBT folk are ordered to disown their LGBT relative. The LGBT international community puts their own lives on the line every day (with no exaggeration) to secure rights that they know they will not see in their lifetime but in the hopes that the next generations can marry whom they please and can live their lives without worrying about being persecuted by grounds of who they are.
Logan Paul has since apologized but I do want to iterate (potentially reiterate) that the LGBT community does not have room to be taken as a joke. If you want to do something about the LGBT community, bring light to the atrocities that take place every day against men, women, and children of all sexualities and genders simply because they fall outside of the gender and sexuality norm. Logan Paul, despite his own truly horrific slip-ups, still has a huge base.
His support and his use of his reach to shed light on the truth of the LGBT community's struggles is what we deserve; not to be demeaned into a trend of sexuality. "Men Only March", Logan Paul? "Going Gay"? Absolutely not. I must say, as someone who screws up like this, again and again, I don't believe you deserve or have earned forgiveness. My sexuality and my struggles will not be your trend. Educate, inform, learn from your mistakes. Please and thank you.
