HOW BARNEY AND SHELDON HELPED ME OVERCOME HOMOPHOBIA

I must admit.

When I was in High School, I was afraid to be associated with gays.

I don't really hate them but I just don't want to be seen with them. The reason being is that I might get mocked by my other friends. I viewed the 'third sex' as a weakness or worse, sickness that is akin to a contagious disease. I picture gay men as sex-hungry individuals who are just waiting for their unknowing prey in order to satisfy their prurient interest.

That was then. 

That kind of change when I went to college. The time when I lived in a dormitory.

During my time, we had the largest contingent of new freshmen who lived in the dorm. We outnumbered the upper batch residing in the dorm.

Living in a dormitory taught me how to interact with other people who came from provinces all over the Philippines.

I befriended all of my dormates. Straight, weird ones, Closet ones and even the gay ones. I learned that interacting with them is not that bad at all. It also helped that most of my professors in the Humanities Department are members of LBGT. I was slowly shedding off my 'homophobic' self.

However, the real game changer for me was when the actors who played my favorite TV series characters Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Dr. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) were actually gay men in real life. 

Knowing how they are in a long-term relationship with their partners warms my heart. The news that Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka adopted a baby further erased any doubts of my earlier prejudices about the gay community. 

Same thing with Jim Parsons.

Barney and Dr. Sheldon Cooper are my two favorite TV characters because of their wit, charm and appeal. The former is Legen *wait for it* *that's right* dary! while the latter is a scientist who is so smart that he probably knows every trivia there is to know.

I thought to myself that it would make me some sort of hypocrite if I despised gay men but love the characters of Barney and Sheldon Cooper. It opened my mind that I shouldn't be putting gay men in such a bad light.

Actually this post has been on my drafts folder for over a year now.  I tried to finish this in light of the tragic event that transpired at Orlando.

50 innocent lives were brutally murdered by deranged gunman. The crime can also be considered as a "hate crime" as all of the victims are members of the LGBT Community. As the story was developing, it was discovered that the gunman was actually a closeted gay.

We now live in the modern world. We should be moving forward and not going backward in the moral front.

Yes, members of the LGBT Community are different in a way that they want to live their lives. But, it does not give any other person the right or the duty to inflict bodily harm or violence towards them because of that difference.

Hate crimes like any other crimes should not be tolerated. Some say the problem is the enforcement of gun control laws.

I beg to differ.

I don't own a gun and I have no intentions of buying one in the foreseeable future.

But I don't think guns are the problem. A criminal will use any tool he could use in order to successfully execute his criminal activity. A gun is a mere tool.

A gun couldn't kill a person if it is just lying around the table. However, a person who has no moral compass could use the gun to kill another person.  I agree with most of the articles I read in the internet that mental illness is a bigger concern than gun control laws.

Going back to the earlier topic, members of the LGBT Community are also humans. It is senseless to inflict, ridicule, harm or violence on them because they are members of such community.

We are all humans, Let us treat each other as humans.