In high school, I tried to make a difference by not singling out a certain group of individuals to be friends with. I tried to be friends with almost everyone in the school. However, I did not obtain the respect that I thought I would. I was subject to hate because two of my good friends, who lived in my neighborhood, were homosexuals. One was a lesbian while the other was gay. I had a girlfriend in the same school so the other students and teachers knew that I was straight. However, we were also the subjects of a lot of hate because of who were our friends. However, I had no idea how powerful that hate was until one horrible day.
About three years ago I had a very scary incident that will haunt me for quite a while. The final bell had just rung signifying the end of the school day. After going to our lockers, as we did everyday, my girlfriend, my two homosexual friends, and I were walking to my car. We were just about there when all of a sudden we were surrounded by five or six football players. When we got surrounded, we tried to ignore them and get into my car. However, before any of this could occur they began to hit us. While they were hitting and kicking us they continuously yelled "f*g" and other words of the same intention. We tried to fight back in the beginning, without success, we then just huddled together to protect one another. By the time my other friends had shown up to help us, it was too late, the group of guys had dispersed.
I do not think there has ever been a time when I was more afraid. All I remember thinking was how scared I was for my life and my friends' lives. I was not really afraid for girlfriend’s life or my life as much as I was afraid for the lives of my two friends. My guy friend was beaten much worse than any of us. For what reason? Probably because he was gay. How come my lesbian friend was not attacked as much? Probably because we were beating attacked by guys and guys most likely did not really mind lesbians, but they despised gays. Those kids who beat us never got into any trouble, even though there were many people who observed what had happened. No one tried to stop them. For what reason? That I am unsure of, the only thing that I can think of is that everyone probably thought that what happened was okay because my friends were gay. But why were my girlfriend and I attacked as well? I think the reason for that was because we were associated with them. They physically beat the four of us because of who we were. From this encounter I was able to see why so many people are afraid to be themselves, especially in high school.
After the fight, I walked away with only a few cuts and bruises, but I also walked away with a lot of pain. The pain was nothing that I could not deal with physically, but mentally I was dead. I still cannot get rid of the images of that afternoon, and I do not know if I will ever be able too. However, that afternoon I walked away with something more than just a few cuts and bruises. I walked away with much more pride in myself, and more determination to be me and fight hatred.
It is hard to understand the fact that for many generations equality has been fought for and it is still not here. There are so many people in the world who understand how important it is to have equality and less hatred. We need to try harder to make an impact on more and more people to have unity. I hope that in my lifetime I can help at least one person overcome hate and see how truly pointless it is. This experience taught me two difficult lessons in life. First, it taught me that no matter how nice I am to people, there will always be individuals that do not like me. However, is that really my problem? I believe that if another person does not like me for who I am then that is their problem. Therefore, they should deal with this problem in a sensible way that does not involve violence. Violence does not solve anything; it only leads to more violence.
The second lesson I learned from this encounter was that one should not judge another person by what they are. By this I mean that one should not judge another person based on the fact if they are gay, lesbian, or straight. True friendship comes from within an individual. In order to get to know another individual one has look beyond what is on the surface, and see what is on the inside. Ever since that day, my friendship with my two friends has become even stronger, even though my girlfriend and I broke up, we are still really good friends. As sung by Blink 182 in their song Untitled, “Best friends just won’t leave your side.” No matter what happens I will always be there for them.
