Are "straight pride" T-shirts offensive?

Jazzde wrote:I would have to disagree with this. Its not a double standard. Gay pride shirts only exist because of discrimination and hardship otherwise there wouldnt be need for them. Its extremely difficult to be gay in a society that says its wrong. You have to fight to live comfortably. No one is saying its wrong to be straight and straight people generally dont face discrimination and prejudice for being straight. Gays are fighting for rights so for a straight person to wear a straight pride shirt is mockery in that sense. You cant make an argument for equality when a group is still fighting for equality. You have to look deeper into it then making an assumption that gays wear rainbows or things to represent their sexuality because they are trying to be snobbish about it.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:I disagree. I see perfectly equal rights under the law already. Equality just doesn't mean everybody gets exactly what they want.

Gay Pride shirts aren't necessary to gain rights anyway. They are a way to mock the values that those who disagree with them have. I am sure those who don't like gay pride shirts feel them to be equally as mocking as some would see "Straight Pride" shirts. Hence, calling the Straight Pride shirts mocking is quite hypocritical. I don't care if they are facing "discrimination," it doesn't change the facts that if these Straight Pride shirts are mocking, so are "Gay Pride" shirts. If they wanna be proud of being gay, then people have a right to be proud of being straight. If you want equality, attacking straight pride shirts is just a double standard.

Jazzde wrote:

You see perfectly equal rights under the law when gays can't get married or have civil unions in most states? Your right equality doesnt mean everyone gets exactly what they want, it means they should have the same rights as everyone else though. Your argument seems more about your personal feelings towards homosexuality than based on fact. Ive never heard one gay person say that they were trying to mock straight people. If you say you dont care that gays face discrimination, how can u make a valid argument?

If you examined the definition of the word mock you would find that it means to treat with ridicule or contempt or to imitate..mimic. Straight pride shirts do just that. You cant say gay pride is a mocking straight values because they didnt have straight pride shirts to begin with and they stem from fighting for equal rights. Plus nowhere is it documented that gay pride shirts were created to mock the values of straight people. This can be cleared up by knowing the history of gay pride to begin with.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:

I never said that they don't face discrimination, just that they have equal rights under the law. A marriage by definition is a joining/union of two different things. Homosexuals can marry any one person of the opposite sex, just as a straight person can. To me, that is equal rights. The "but they cannot marry who they love" argument doesn't hold because legal marriage isn't bound to emotion. It's not about personal feelings and is more about common sense. Maybe gays don't wear the t-shirts to mock, but people see it as them doing so. Likewise, "Straight Pride" t-shirts aren't necessarily to mock either, so if you are offended by them, it's your own personal beliefs.

It's not documented when something is seen as mocking. Gay pride to me seems plenty mocking. I see plenty of contempt directed at those who share different views. Hence, again, Gay Pride and Straight Pride shirts are NO different from each other. Both wear sexuality on their sleeve and both have opposing sides who feel offended. If one is offensive, both are offensive. If people don't like Straight pride shirts, than they should be against Gay Pride shirts too lest they be hypocrites. Trying to say that Gay Pride shirts are different is honestly just trying to rationalize double standards.

Jazzde wrote:You do realize that you can't universally define marriage as between two different people outside of westernized societies? Thats cultural. Just as it is in this culture to marry for love not just for a legal contract. Love is the main reason people get married in 2010. If you dont need emotion to marry which is true, why should it be limited to sex or gender? Why should marriage be based on heterosexuality? Laws change as times change. Plus your not talking about the fact that when you get married you also gain state and federal beneifits that gays do not have.

Forgiveness_Man wrote:Motives for marriage are cultural. Definitions are definitions. Having a DVD player with two drives isn't a marriage of two DVD players. But a machine with both a VCR and a DVD players is a marriage of those two units. It just plays into the definition of what marriage is. But the definition of marriage is beside the point of these shirts being the same.

So it's about benefits? Well people with kids get benefits people with just pets don't get. Should people with just pets get those benefits too? What if we take away all benefits?

At the end of the day, whatever your views on gay rights are, straight people have every bit as much a right to be proud of who they are as gay people do. Hence, if straight pride shirts are offensive, gay pride shirts are too, unless you have double standards.

Jazzde wrote:

A double standard is saying that heterosexual couples can be married/united and homosexual couples can't. Even in your argument you have double standard because you tried to prove why marriage should be based on heterosexuality. This is about whether the shirts are offensive or, not whether you like the shirts or not. We live in a hetero as normative society. The straight and gay pride shirts are fundamentally different in meaning. One was created to stand up for rights and the other is created to prevent a group of people from having rights. Its like comparing a kkk shirt to an african american pride shirt. Gay and straight people should be proud of who they are. We can keep going back and forth on this but the more important thing is where these shirts are manufactured, who they are being sold to and why because all of that matters as well.

RiteDiva wrote:I'd say they were more "pointless" than "offensive." Society is already proud of people who're straight so those shirts are just pronouncing to the congregation, really.

JB wrote:

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Let people have their parody if they're bent on it, but yes...very pointless.

Nhaiyel wrote:A "Straight Pride" t-shirt is the equivalent to an article of clothing that declares "White Pride." It's a mock of the minority group that wears similar shirts to reaffirm their lack of shame for not being of the majority, is very condescending, and pretentiously gloats their socially dominant status.

So yes, a "Straight Pride" t-shirt is offensive.

wants2laugh wrote:Not offensive.... I agree with FM.. If gays are seeking equality from the majority by wearing the shirts to begin with, then they should equally expect to see straight pride shirts. Being told NOT to wear them would be showing inequality or taking their rights away.

When I was in high school a girl wore a "black is beautiful" shirt. That was permissible. So the next day another girl wore a "white is beautiful" and she was suspended. Black boys came to school with NWA shaved in the back of their heads, so white boys shaved CWA for Caucasians with Attitudes and they were suspended.

Where is the equality in that???? As FM said, only minorities can be proud of who they are??? NO! I'm a good person, I believe everyone gets the right to be free and happy and say and do what they want---EVERYBODY, not just the minority. AND the opposite sides should respect each other's points of view--- THAT is the American way.

tmontyb wrote:

Personally, the only T-Shirt that I wear regularly says, "Nurses Are Great" and I wear it because we are. That's being said, it quite sad that people fail to see how condescending those t-shirts that counter the minority are.

I don't think the girl should have been suspended , but we all know how that message can be taken.

tmontyb wrote:

Personally, the only T-Shirt that I wear regularly says, "Nurses Are Great" and I wear it because we are. That's being said, it quite sad that people fail to see how condescending those t-shirts that counter the minority are.

I don't think the girl should have been suspended , but we all know how that message can be taken.

wants2laugh wrote:

If a man wore a shirt that said "Doctors are great" would you be offended? We all know that doctors can be condescending to nurses, and often get more credit than they deserve because the nurses took better care of the patient than the doctor, but would you take offense?

CeCe wrote:Ahhhh this one again. I was going to do a huge copy/paste but will just keep it simplistic. Straight people whining about their "straight pride" sound as foolish as growing up listening to white people whining about the BET network & wanting their WET & the NAACP awards wanting their "white" awards. White people. Straight people, (& I am BOTH) you ALREADY HAVE IT! You have the rights. You haven't been told you're evil, an abomination, damned to hell, sick, perverted, disgusting, a threat to society, deserving of harm...do I need to go on? When an entire group of people have been told their entire lives that they are not good enough to have the rights everyone else has & that they should be ashamed just because of who they are, well you're damn right PRIDE needed to exist to help gay people understand they have no reason to be ashamed. So when straight people start this shit they look like uneducated fools. They're like children who get a cookie & see someone else get one & then they want another because they think it isn't "fair" because they're the only ones entitled.

I would recommend anyone who has access to netflix to see "Before Stonewall" & "After Stonewall". Both have excellent footage & commentary as far as the history.