As the world changes and progresses, people of different color, race, religion, sexualities, etc, are asking to be respected as a basic human being. You know, as they should. And with that statement comes a lot of backlash.

“It goes against my religion!”

“But it’s disgusting!”

“Why is the world changing?”

“Well back in my day-” Let me stop you right there.

You know I get it; people were born in different times and obviously, times were different back then. Here’s the thing though, times change *gasps* crazy right? It shouldn’t be but it is. There’s so many people in this world and they’re all different in their own way! So why is it hard to comprehend that? Why are we shown the same pale skin color when there’s so many other beautiful colors in darker tones? Why do we see more of the common straight hair when there are people with curls, and waves? Why is it so hard to see people of the same sex love each other on camera? I mean we see it all the time with a boy and girl? Nobodies harming nobody!

Religion doesn’t excuse someone’s actions. Just because something someone is doing goes against your beliefs, it doesn’t mean you can abuse and belittle them. Everyone has their own beliefs and some don’t have beliefs at all! What we can all agree on however is that we all deserve respect. So why shouldn’t they get respected as well! Like buddy, in the end we’re all just worshipping some godly presence we think created the world. We’re not that different!

The bare minimum people can do is respect others and their decisions, regardless of what they believe is right or wrong. That’s all everyone really wants right? Everyone just wants to be seen as human beings. And before anyone says it is not a big deal, let me tell you this; I had a conversation with a close friend of mine who uses they/them pronouns. I used the term Mx, a gender neutral word for Mr. and Ms. with zero thought, and they were very glad. They were grateful that someone used a gender neutral term for them. I was confused; it was the bare minimum I could do, I didn’t worry about getting something wrong because I knew what they were comfortable with. Simple as that. But to them it seemed to mean the world.

Acknowledgement and respect matters. Regardless of what we think is right. Just don’t be an A-hole you know.