There are many reasons why kids have an easier time coming out to gay parents than straight parents. For one, the parents are gay themselves so they understand the society pressures and bias that their kid would be going through if he or she was gay. They would be more accepting of the fact as well, because well if they weren’t wouldn’t that make them hypocrites? Also, like one of the girls who said in class that she had gay parents, she didn’t realize that this wasn’t considered normal so she was more accepting of people who don’t follow the norm. Meanwhile, straight parents can be accepting but they’re not used to the idea. It depends how religious your parents are, they could still believe that gays choose to be gay and that makes it so much harder for the kids to be able to come out. I’m first generation here and my parents are really cool about mostly everything, but this is a fact that they wouldn’t understand and wouldn’t be used to. I’m straight but I have always asked my mom what she would have done if she had a gay kid, and she never knows how to answer that. It’s not easy. I’ve grown up making friends with many gay people and I refuse to look at them differently. Why would anyone choose to be ousted by society, they can’t help what they feel and nobody should tell them they can’t feel how they feel. Gay parents understand that and they know how to be sympathetic because they would know how the kids feel. Straight parents wouldn’t be able to understand the daily bullying from society that gays get. How do gay kids talk to their straight parents about any of the stuff? I personally find it hard to even talk to my parents about relationships and all now because my mom and dad never really experienced all that. Luckily, our generation is getting more and more accepting. We also notice that girls are more accepting of gays than guys are but hopefully over time, this will change and our future children can be openly gay if they are without any concerns or fear. I still know some people, very few though, who have parents who won’t let them marry someone of another race and they would be scared to even ask their parents about that. It really depends what kind of straight parents you have though, some can be real accepting because they are open minded. But if you have straight parents that have told you before that they are not accepting and/or really follow their religion then it is much harder. Gay parents would be must easier to come out to because they are gay themselves! Just that is enough to explain why it is easier to come out to gay parents than straight parents honestly.

I completely agree with this comment. If the White guy is going to get called out for thinking it’s funny, so should the Asian American guy. There’s still racism in this country, but there’s also those people who think it’s necessary to point out every comment as a racist comment. Some people aren’t trying to be racist, but their comments could easily be twisted around. I get jokes about my race all the time but none of them offend me because they’re my friends and oblivious. I just laugh it off and correct them half the time. I personally didn’t think the video was funny because it was just dumb what the Fox reporter was doing, but it could easily be funny to someone else and that person isn’t trying to be offensive. Think about all the comedians that constantly make fun of their own race, they never get called out for it. I honestly think that some people are just too sensitive and twist around what people say. It’s kind of scary to speak up in class sometimes because of how easily people misunderstand statements. There are a lot of kids who I feel don’t have an open mind to some things because they feel like only they understand. I just think that some things shouldn’t be taken so seriously. The video was just plain rude because the kids in it didn’t realize that they were getting made fun of basically, if it was a different situation where they were kind of making fun of themselves then it would have been funny. I really felt bad for the White kid because I knew he meant no harm in what he said; he just thought it was somewhat funny. The people calling him out have definitely laughed at stuff making fun of other people’s races. Also, one girl was saying how she said that’s some white shit. Isn’t that the same thing? Why point fingers at a race?! Just to clarify, I’m a minority too. I just don’t feel the need to ever call out people on race and if someone makes fun of my race, I just laugh with them. But they never honestly do, they don’t mean any harm and if it is offensive, I just shut them up and correct them. If we want to move on from racism, we have to start taking things more lightly. Then again, there are those videos like the one with the white kid and the black kid “stealing” the bike and the difference in reactions. Those are the ones we need to take seriously. That’s just really messed up, and I think it’s more prevalent with older people than younger ones. Situations like those shouldn’t be ignored.

I think going through racism at a younger age could be positive and negative. I’m Indian and I didn’t really experience it at a younger age because of where I grew up. The town I grew up in was a very diverse town and my parents mingled only with Indians. It could be positive because it could teach you at an early age what to expect and how to handle it. But at the same time, it could be negative because you’re more sensitive at a younger age. Being sensitive makes it harder to handle and you could carry on those feelings for the rest of your life. I never realized the amount of racism in this country till I came to college. Of course, we used to joke about each others’ races all the time and since we had such huge groups of each race, we had each other’s backs. I admit, I can be racist at times too but I always try to hold myself back and never judge. I have seen people make really racist comments and it makes me so uncomfortable, I don’t really know how to handle it yet. I think I would have been better off I learned it at a younger age, but since I didn’t I never know how to really handle the situation. Dealing with racism at a younger age is really more beneficial. I have seen the other side of racism somewhat, my mom always stereotypes and it always angers my sister and I. No matter how much I dislike it, it’s not going to change my mom’s view on things. Just like no matter how much we lecture the world, it’s not going to change their view on things because of history. So instead, we have to learn how to deal with those situations. Whether you learn at a younger age or learn now. At home, I was always surrounded by Indians and so I was involved in everything Indian related. In fact, I became one of the presidents of our south asian club in high school. It was no big deal for me to dance to Indian songs in front of a crowd of people of other races. I came to college with the idea of meeting people of other races though since I was in such a bubble at home. It really changed my view on everything, I have no regrets doing that but I also sometimes feel weird doing anything related to my culture. I don’t even know how to speak my native language anymore because I barely speak it, but this isn’t a new thing I have had trouble with it in since beginning of high school. I’m just starting to get comfortable with my culture again and I think it would have really helped if I was dealing with this at a younger age. But since I’m just really seeing it now, it’s taking me longer to do it.

War is always a topic I try to avoid because there are just so many different opinions and views on it, and I hate the politics aspect of it. But it’s easy to ignore when I’m not physically a part of it. Listening to the war veterans talk about their time in Iraq was really eye opening. It’s also very interesting to listen to a Middle Eastern person’s point of view on the war. It’s easy saying that Americans soldiers go to Iraq and are ordered to kill the bad guys, but it’s not like that. So many civilians get killed in the process and though the soldiers try not to hurt the civilians, it’s unavoidable in some cases. The fact that these soldiers have the strength to face situations like these is really admirable. In my small soc group, we have a war veteran and a girl from the Middle East. It was really interesting listening to both their perspectives on the war. I can see each person’s point of view; it’s really hard to come to a middle ground on this topic. It was brought up how America involves itself in other countries’ situations when sometimes it’s not even necessary to do so. In this case, it was very necessary to go to war because they did an act of terrorism on us and if we didn’t react, then they would have probably continued hurting our country. I feel like we can’t understand what’s going on unless we experience it firsthand, it’s easy for us to just turn off the TV when we don’t want to hear about the war anymore. But what about the people who live in that country and experience it everyday? What about the people who don’t know if today will be their last day or not? We never have to worry about that here, but Iraq residents must worry about that everyday. I can’t even imagine that. Also, back to how American involves itself in other countries’ matters, I think that if the country isn’t a direct threat to us we shouldn’t involve ourselves unless the UN decides that to do so, or multiple countries pair up to help out a country in need. War is a dangerous topic to talk about; it’s so controversial. An interesting point that Sam brought up is how people care more when it’s people of their culture getting hurt. This is very true, if my native country was in war with America I wouldn’t know how I would react to that. It’s hard because America is my home; it’s where I was brought up. Yet my extended family lives in my native country, so obviously I wouldn’t be okay with it. I hope I never have to confront that situation.

My first reaction to this is that it’s a sweet moment with two people in love. If that were a woman and man, this would be a poster picture for a cute moment captured after being separated for so long. I have absolutely nothing against homosexuals, and everyone else shouldn’t. If they are uncomfortable with it, then don’t look at it. But there is never any need for harsh or derogatory comments about homosexuals. They didn’t make a choice to be gay and it’s ignorant for some people to think that. Why would anyone in their right mind want to be hated by people just because they “choose” to love someone of the same sex? They shouldn’t be hated on at all; it’s unfair that they are mistreated. I look at them as I look at a woman and man and everyone else should too. Hopefully, in future generations that will be the case. Why don’t they have the right to marry like anyone else?! That’s ridiculous, and I’m glad some states have decided to realize just how stupid that is. We are a free country and we should be able to marry whom we want to marry. I’m straight and I still feel so strongly about this matter. Religion really separates people, and that’s why church and state should be separated. Government laws should be unbiased, especially in this democratic country. If people actually believe God doesn’t want them to be gay, and they chose to do it… then why did God give them the opportunity to even think about it? That might be a confusing statement but I don’t know how else to word it. What I’m trying to say is that God did create them, and they were born with that just like straight people are born with the desire to like people of the opposite sex. Who even made the rules that it should be only man and woman? Every religion has a book and everyone interprets it according to what they want to believe, so don’t go around saying that’s what God said. Everyone should be treated equally and it’s sad that biases like these still happen today. Those two men finally confessed their love for each other and it was a joyous occasion that they wanted to celebrate. Good for them for not letting negative comments bring them down; they should know that there are people who are truly happy for them! To end all this, I want to say one more thing. I think that parents who disown their children because they’re homosexual are awful. I have always thought what would happen if I had a kid who was gay, I wouldn’t care I would just be worried on how the rest of the world would treat my kid. Hopefully, people will learn to be more respectful.

I don’t think there is anyway of overcoming the race issue. Hopefully as time goes by, future generations will not even look at race as a different. No matter what though, we all do it. We all stereotype; I know I’ve done it. It immediately comes up but then I realize what I thought and hold it back. I subconsciously do it though. I agree with the person who asked this question, I always thought it was more than race too. Honestly, it is. The president of my class was a black male who has never listened to rap music and was the most proper, studious male in our grade. Hence why he was president. He currently goes to Dartmouth University and I believe his grades were just as good as any other person in our school. I come from a school district where college is not a choice, it’s almost mandatory. Everyone aims to go to a really good school, Ivy League status. So there is a lot of competition, so much that our school decided to get rid of the ranking system. We live in the suburbs too, but there are Black and Hispanic people in our school who choose not to go to college and fool around in high school. But there are also White people who do that. I hope one day, people would stop using race to answer anything because in the dark, we’re all the same. Race should never depict who we are. The president of our class, he’s Black and I’m sure he has gotten judged but he doesn’t fit his stereotype. Yet he might have to carry that stereotype with him for the rest of his life. I think the only way we can overcome this race issue is by passing on our knowledge to our kids. The ones who still judge people by race are mainly the ones who lived during the olden days, when race was such a big issue. I mean it still is now obviously, but not as bad as before. As long as we keep passing on our carefree attitude that race does not matter, then one day the world won’t see anyone by his or her race. But I think that will take a long time. America is supposed to be the melting pot of the world, with all the different races. But when a Black man runs for president, many republicans question if he’s “American” and where’s his birth certificate. They wouldn’t question that if the guy was White, the White guy could easily be from Sweden or something and that wouldn’t be the first question they ask. The fact that someone of a different race won the presidential election and is now running our country shows that there is still hope about ending race issues. But there will always be those ignorant people who refuse to turn a blind eye to race, and there’s nothing we can do about that.

I don’t know if there is a definition for what I am. I believe in a higher power but I don’t believe you have to religiously practice the religion to believe in those gods. There has to be higher power though it only makes sense.
Watching the video in class only proves the theory that we stem from monkeys. How did dinosaurs and monkeys and all come to earth though? It’s really amazing to think about evolution, how we came to be. It’s also scary at the same time. I believe there’s a higher power because there have been miracles in my life and only someone watching over us could have helped us out with that. I wonder if we will ever find an explanation, it still remains the biggest mystery to this day. I think since we don’t have an explanation, we resort to the fact that there is a higher power. It’s scarier without an explanation.
I believe everything good and bad happens for a reason. If something bad happens, something good will eventually come out of it. I also think that you don’t have to religiously practice your religion and be a perfect follower to believe in the higher power. I barely go to my place of worship and I rarely pray unless I need to because I figure God already knows what I need help with or don’t need help with. If you’re a good human being regardless, then the higher power will help you out. That might have strayed off the topic a little bit.
The only thing about religions is that everyone needs to realize we all believe in the same thing in the end. Islam and Judaism stem from the same point. My mom prays to Jesus too because as she said, “in the end, they’re all Gods.” Some people might not understand that, but I completely agree with her. Science proves that we’re like monkeys so why do people constantly still deny that we stem from monkeys? And why are there still monkeys in this world? How come they all did not become humans? These are just a few questions I constantly wonder about. I also wonder what people who don’t believe in a higher power think about evolution and how earth was created.
I believe a higher power created life on this planet and created people in a certain way so that some would end up advancing technology to the level it is today while others are more on the creative side. Does the higher power really plan on ending the world at some time too, is that why global warming is going on? There is just no explanation for any of this, so I will remain curious and remaining believing in a higher power because that gives me comfort.

Some white people may shy away from race, but I don’t think it’s only White People. I’m not White and I’m careful about what I say too. What might not be offensive to one person might be to another. It’s just the history of racial differences that makes us all think like this. We want to show that our generation is changing and so we shouldn’t point out each other’s races and all. In class, Sam picked out a girl who has never associated with Black people and asked her to picked the darkest person in the classroom. That’s not offensive at all, but she was nervous about doing it and thought it would be offensive. And like Sam said, I’m sure some Black people were secretly hoping she wouldn’t pick them. I know I would have been thinking that if I were in their place. I’m sure some of it is also because I wouldn’t want to be called out in a class of about 600 people though. I’m the only colored person in my group of friends here and I’m not going to lie, talks about my race and culture are the center of conversations most of the time. And they do call out some stereotypes as jokes, but I honestly don’t get offended. Sometimes I think about it after and think, that is ignorant of them to say but they’re just oblivious and are trying to learn more about my culture. So instead of getting mad, I just teach them a little about my culture every day. I enjoy doing it too! Sam also brought up how people of the same race like to stick with each other. I think the international students stick to kids of their race more than anyone else because they just came from another country, and could be having a hard time adjusting. So it’s comforting to them to hang out with other people who understand their homesickness. The town I was brought up in was very diverse, and we all stuck with people of our race. All my best friends are my race. But I came to school with the goal of getting out of that bubble and I’m so glad I did. I do come across a lot of ignorant people but I know they don’t mean it in a bad way at all, but I get it if another person were to get offended. But it’s really not only White people who shy away from the topic of race, I’m careful about what I say around Black and Hispanic people because I don’t want anything to come out as offensive. I don’t even think people should even point out each other races; we’re all the same with the lights off. I sit with my two white friends in class and Sam wanted a group of five white people to volunteer, and my friend proceeds to say “I would say we volunteer but we only have three.” She completely forgot that I was not White for those few seconds! I thought that was interesting and that’s how it should be. We’re all the same.

I think that it’s ridiculous that presidential candidates who are bilingual are less likely to be picked because they aren’t considered completely loyal to America. Being bilingual is a great gift to have and that’s why we should all learn Spanish. Why spend the millions of dollars to try to teach all the Spanish people English, and we learned how beneficial immigrants are to our economy. Instead of focusing on all the cons, we should focus on the pros because immigration is unavoidable so if you can’t beat it, join it. It’s good to know more than one language because we don’t run this country based on only our products, we work with other countries constantly. English is the common language and the immigrants should learn it but at the same time, it doesn’t hurt for Americans to learn Spanish either instead of complaining about it. Most of the jobs that illegal immigrants take are blue-collar jobs that most Americans refuse to take like the farm workers’ jobs so they aren’t competition. If we stepped it up and actually prove that we are competition to those immigrants who take the good jobs, then we wouldn’t have to worry about immigrants. But all that is talked about is how immigrants take jobs away from Americans; they are hired based on their skill and knowledge and obviously they were better qualified than other people who were interviewing for the same job. Americans should just be more open minded about the situation, especially the radical ones.
My parents immigrated here so I’m a little biased on the situation. It took us about 11 years to get our American citizenship, so no it’s not that easy to get a citizenship. We still know people who have lived here for much longer than us and still only have green cards. Immigrants travel here for a better education and better work, now if Americans pride themselves on that then why are immigrants so unaccepted? In our small discussion groups, we talked about how in some other countries like Middle Eastern and Asian countries, children get educated with the ambition of being successful so they go for jobs like doctors and engineers. In America, we are more free to do what we want to so people can do whatever they like such as become journalists or just about anything. So who are going to take the doctor, engineering, etc jobs? It helps bringing in the best from other countries too; it’s actually beneficial for America. We constantly need to innovate and if we can’t find the talent here, why not from other countries? I’m not saying there is no talent here, of course there absolutely is. But it doesn’t hurt to add immigrants to the mix too.
Regardless, I do understand the Americans who are against immigrants’ viewpoint on all this but they should really listen to the other side and be more open minded!

This is a very hard question to answer. I personally have never experienced sexual abuse, but my one close friend confronted me about a time when she was sexually abused recently. I knew it was a hard topic for her to talk about so I applauded her strength for being able to re-live that moment. It can't be easy. I tried helping her feel better but honestly, there is nothing I can do. The emotional damage has already been done. That one incident has scarred her for the rest of her life. The only way to possibly help them is to keep uniting in the fight against sexual abuse. Though that won't change anything, it will show them they are not alone and they shouldn't be afraid to speak up. It's also been proved that most sexual abusers themselves have been sexually abused, they tend to repeat those actions because they are psychologically damaged from all the abuse. It's a domino effect.
The lecture about Joe Paterno really opened my eyes, I was seeing it from the victims’ point of view. Obviously, it was not Paterno’s fault at all but he was a huge power figure in our community and he could have done so much more to end it. I might have been more biased against Paterno if I was a victim myself, but since I’m not I have to say that nobody but him understands the situation he was in. If someone came up to me and was to tell me someone I trusted for so long was sexually abusing young boys, I wouldn’t want to believe it. It’s wrong to do so, but I wouldn’t believe it until the facts were straightened out and there was proof. Paterno still went to higher authorities to inform them and they were supposed to take care of it from then on. A PA prosecutor recently commented on the situation and said that Paterno did what any other teacher in PA have done in these situations, if he got fired then they all should. The prosecutor goes on to say that the police hold back investigation details because that’s what they are supposed to do, so Paterno did everything he was supposed to and he should not be held accountable for the entire situation. It’s understandable how the victims’ feel though, he could have helped them out so much and prevented more kids from getting sexually abused. But he was told the situation would be taken care of. He’s not god, he’s human and humans make mistakes. I really do feel for the victims though, the only monster in this whole crime is Sandusky and I just feel like that wasn’t centered on enough in the news. Many ignorant people still go around saying Paterno was the pedophile. It’s those people who anger me, who need to get their facts straight. Sandusky should be thoroughly punished for what he did, but I feel like Paterno got more punished than he did with all the humiliation.
With all that ranting, I would like to state once more that though I don’t feel like Paterno deserved all the criticism he got it does not mean that it makes it okay that he didn’t do more. It is not okay that all these boys were sexually abused, every time I think about it makes me sick to my stomach. I will join the fight against sexual abuse and I want the victims to know that it is okay to talk about it because they have a lot of supporters to protect them. People have learned from this situation, no doubt about that.