The Land of the Free

                Once upon a time there was land whose people thought they were free and just. Every day, they would march and shout about how wonderful life was in their great land. To them, they were the pinnacle that the rest of the world was trying to reach! To the rest of the world however, they were simply a lesson in how not to be.

                Every day news stories came out of this land of people being murdered simply because of who they were born as. Every day new accounts came forth about discrimination and hardships. Every day more and more people became scared to leave their homes. And every day the people of this land went out and shouted to the skies about how great, just, and free they all were.

                Every time an unarmed person was killed, the voices would cry: “If only they had been armed!”

                Every time an armed person was killed, the voices would cry: “If only they had not been armed!”

                They would cry these out, yet never could they see the irony of their words.

                “We are the land of freedom!” They would say to any who would listen, all the while ignoring those who could not leave their homes out of fear.

                “We are the land of opportunity!” They would shout, all the while ignoring those who could not get work because of who they were.

                “Everyone is equal here!” They would boast, all the while the system systematically oppressed those different from them.

                Whenever the world would say, “We think you have a problem with weapons,” they would assure the world that was not the case!—as they stood on the bodies that died that day.

                Whenever the world would say, “You’re not as free as you think you are,” they would scoff and laugh!—as the oppressed grew more and destitute behind them.

                “What a great land we are,” they would think as they invaded other lands for their own gain.

                “Surely the whole world loves us and looks up to us!” They would think as the rest of the world pulled away in fear.

                The whole world would watch in sick fascination whenever this land would choose its leader. Always hoping the next one would somehow fix the problems, yet always knowing that the problems would never disappear.

                It was truly confusing to the world how a land so filled with hate and mistrust could boast about freedom and equality. Where had the people of this land ever actually seen freedom and equality? Or had those concepts become so warped and diseased that the people living there actually thought themselves free? Could they be that deluded? In a land where the protectors killed innocents in front of children, in a land where the protectors killed children, how could they call themselves free and equal? In a land where those of different colour were treated as second class, in a land where who others loved determined their value, how could they call themselves free and equal?

                Every day news of new tragedies would come out of this land, and every morning the people would come out and boast about how wonderful everything was.

                And the world watched as this land burned down around the people. 

Ten points to whoever can guess what country this is about! It's gonna be suuuuuuuper hard. 

Possible Triggers

                “Hey man.”

                “Hey.”

                “How’s it going?”

                “S’alright, yeah. You?”

                “Decent. You hear about Jenny?”

                “What? Jenny, isn’t she that girl we have calculus with?”

                “Yeah, Dave saw her making out with Denise. You know what that means!”

                “What are you talking about?”

                “Dude, there are lesbians. In our class. They’re gonna make out and shit and we can watch!”

                “That’s not how that works. Maybe you should just give them space. Obviously they don’t want people to know.”

                “Fuck that, what’s your problem? They’re hot. Don’t you want to watch?”

                “They’re people. It’s their life, they aren’t doing it for you to watch.”

                “Whatever, you gay or something? Maybe they’ll let me join in.”

                “I’m pretty sure they don’t want you to ‘join in’.”

                “Maybe not at first, but once I get started they’ll love it.”

                “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

                “What?”

                “Guy, that’s rape. You can’t do that.”

                “Jesus, man, they’re just some dykes. They don’t know what they’re missing. They’ll like it.”

                “No, that’s not allowed. That’s straight up rape man. You’re talking about raping two people!”

                “Chill out, it’s fine. God, people get so worked up these days. Can’t I just have some fun with these two? They’ll like it, all women like dick once they try it.”

                “Listen, you gotta shut up about this. You can’t say these things.”

                “Fuck off, pussy.”

                “Hey, Jenny? Do you have a sec?”

                “Um, hi, do I know you?”

                “Not really, we have calculus together. Listen, you know John?”

                “The football douche? No offense if he’s you’re friend.”

                “No, he’s a douche. His friend Dave saw you and Denise—“

                “What did he say? What do you want?”

                “No, it’s nothing like that. Not really. I just want to let you know. John’s gonna tell people. And…”

                “And what?”

                “He wants to sleep with you and Denise and it doesn’t matter to him if you guys say yes… He thinks all women are straight no matter what.”

                “Are…are you serious?”

                “Yeah.”

                “He told you that?”

                “Yeah. Called me gay when I told him that was wrong. Listen, I don’t know what you can do, but just be careful.”

                “Hey, thanks for letting me know.”

                “Yeah.”

                Things like this are a sad reality to those in the queer community. This specific kind of rape even has a name: corrective rape. It happens when straight people, men and women, rape a gay, bi, pan, ace, trans, person in the attempt to “show them the error in their ways”. Lesbians and asexual people are at a high risk for this. Lesbians because of how over-sexualized they are in media, and asexual people because of they are often viewed as prudish, religious, or broken. Many people think that if they have heterosexual sex with people, they will “fix” them and turn them straight.

                This mindset is brought on by religion, society, and the media. Everywhere one looks, straight couples are shown as the normal, as the correct thing. It is with this environment that corrective rape came to being. This is why queer people call out for better representation in the media. This is why it is important for corporations to listen. And yet straight people will get upset. “They can’t be gay”, “Dude, they’re straight. Not everyone is gay”. That’s the problem. No one is gay in the media. Star Wars is thinking of adding its first gay character, and people are outraged. Why? The franchise is about space wizards with laser swords. Why the fuck can’t some of them be gay? This past year, the CW had several gay, lesbian, and bi characters. They killed off all the lesbians. Why? The death of other characters would’ve been just as shocking and impactful. But the lesbians aren’t as important as the straight characters. They’re seen as lesser. And with this attitude, corrective rape grows. Every time queer characters are treated as novelties, it dehumanizes them. And whenever something is dehumanized in the media, it leaks into real life. Look at war time propaganda, the Japanese were shown as soulless monsters who wanted to eat children, and that racism has held over. It wasn’t true, it was just propaganda. That’s today’s media though, everything has a message and a hidden meaning. Everything we watch is pushing something or someone. As we move closer to true equality, our media poisons that idea in secret.

                The sad thing is, allies get drawn into this trap as well. They support the queer community, but heaven forbid that they’re favourite characters come out as gay. Heaven forbid someone ships two male characters together.

                When only straight is seen as right and correct, corrective rape grows. That is why hate crimes against the queer community rarely get punished. That is why so many people still think it’s okay to use gay as an insult. That’s why it’s still okay to mock other genders and insult people by calling them another gender. Because we’ve been dehumanized for so long, we’ve become passive towards it. We begin to think that maybe we are overreacting, and we allow the thoughts to grow and fester until it overwhelms us. Even members of the queer community take part in the dehumanization. From telling certain groups that they aren’t gay enough to be a part, to outright saying some members don’t exist.

                Until we stand together as one community—a community with many parts yes, but working together!—, we won’t be able to achieve our goals of acceptance and equality. For if we do not treat each other with equality and acceptance, why would the rest of the world?