#on the ''transgenderism'' note I'm fucking sorry for existing I guess

[eleilinnrallin]

Realized that the main reason I hate the way a lot of conservative Christians talk about queer things is because they have made absolutely no effort to actually understand it.

And sure maybe they've read a book or two, but never with the intent to see "oh, what is this, actually?" or "what can I learn about these people?" It's always with the intent of "how can I learn why I am right?" "how can I more effectively argue against this ideology?" "how can I feel like the good guy for saying these things they say are hateful?"

There's several issues with this.

Going in with the intention of learning how to defend your point isn't going to lead to an actual understanding of the people you are claiming to try and learn about. It's only going to confirm what you believe.

Treating people as "ideologies" is flat out wrong. (This is why I hate the word "transgenderism", for one.) It is dehumanizing, even.

Never go to second-hand sources to learn about a group of people. Because those people will be wrong. I primarily learned this from being Mormon--people will say outright wrong and hateful things about Mormonism! And so if people are aiming to learn about Mormons they're going to end up with misinformation rather than real understanding. And this is true about queer people.

If you really want to understand queer people, talk to queer people. With a genuine interest in understanding, not in rejecting them and finding reasons they are "sinful" or whatever.