28th March 2013
DIFFERENCE: Changing opinion does not come from just a gradual trend towards more liberal thought, but also through personal experiences.
By Isabel De La Garza, Senior Writer
Rob Portman’s recent stance reversal on gay rights, triggered by the realization that his son is gay, once again brings to mind the opinions of the non-political on the issue. Portman was against gay marriage previously and is now receiving a lot of flack over the issue from the Traditional Values Coalition and its president, Andrea Lafferty. Portman knew his son was gay for two years before he eventually changed his stance.
President Barack Obama too gradually took his pro-gay marriage stance after he worked as a politician for some time and met “members of [his] own staff who are incredibly committed in monogamous, same-sex relationships.” Hillary Clinton experienced a similar turn-around. There are reasons they did not take a pro-gay marriage stance beforehand. With homosexuality, the tendency to dislike or shun the difference has been deeply embedded in various world cultures. It is not something that will change with the liberal tendencies of youth alone. Stereotypes continue to exist and perpetuate and will not fade, as evident by the number of racial stereotypes all over the world.
Stereotypes and fear of different races continues today in some parts of America, despite the majority of Americans’ stance against discrimination. Whether they are positive or negative stereotypes, they still pigeon-hole and single out archetype roles for diverse groups of people. They allow both hate and ignorance to persist, not in all people of course, but in the average person. The whites that initially joined in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s were atypical. They were the type of people that did not care for stereotypes and wished to make their own evaluations of people individually rather than as a unit of a larger group. There were also those that did not want to change anything about their lives and the type of life that was lived in America and tried their utmost to make sure everything stuck to the status quo. They too were atypical, but in their stubbornness, rather than their acceptance.
There is a group, however, that can be changed and continues to change due to influences of both extreme groups and life. This group is comprised of average centrist Americans. This group may have stances, but it is much more receptive to change than the extreme groups. Though there are still negative and positive depictions of the gay lifestyle in all media, these people do not base their final position simply on these stereotypes. They take positions based on their experiences.
Portman, Dick Cheney, Obama and Clinton all changed their stance on gay marriage to a supportive one due to the influence of people in their lives. Obama felt the need to change his position after observing “committed, monogamous, same-sex relationships.” Whether he believed the stereotype of the promiscuous homosexual with multiple sexual partners and no desire to settle down as popularized by Mike Wallace’s 60 Minutes documentary “The Homosexuals” or not, he did not see the need to take a stand on the issue until he was convinced by the people around him that homosexuals could indeed be committed. Portman gradually came to his position after a long period of thought brought about because of his son.
In both cases, it was the example of other people close to them that changed their opinions. Just as encounters with Martin Luther King Jr. changed the opinions of some white persons, encounters with homosexuals also change people. People’s opinions are personal and unique, thus it only makes sense for them to change due to personal exposure and immersion. People’s opinions change as they progress through life for this reason. And thus, in order to change anything for the better, we must actively pursue such opportunities to learn for ourselves and form our own opinions, instead of just basing our thoughts completely off of stereotype and the opinions of others. Even if opinions change, it is still better that you come to your own opinion after personal contemplation on events, rather than to follow the crowd for the sake of following or leave the crowd for the sake of being different.