Video Reaction paper 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Video Reaction paper 3 - Essay Example It made me think about how far behind our society is in terms of true acceptance and inclusiveness of the people who are born as one gender but have the ability to perform the duties and responsibilities of both genders. Provided they are given the freedom to choose who they truly know their selves to be. The death of Fred Martinez left me with a feeling of shame as I viewed the documentary. While Fred was somebody who was admired in his native American tribe for the uniqueness of his spirit, he was condemned by our society for being gay. But in reality, was his sexual orientation or gender identity really something to kill a person about? The violence that he experienced through bullying is something that our society would never stand for if it were done to a White Man. No, if Fred Martinez had been white, he would have been protected by our bullying laws. He would have had access to a restraining order. He would have been able to stand up for himself because our society protects by law and respects the White gays and lesbians. Instead Martinez was killed because our society refused to understand the uniqueness of his person and lacked respect for Fred's own Native American traditions. The puzzlement for me while watching the documentary was how our own LGBT community can fight for and most the time, gain the rights and respect that they demand for their gender identities but when the native Americans, the original settlers in this country show that they too deserve to be accorded the same respect, they are not only denied the opportunity to live under the same cloak of protection as their U.S, counterparts, but are murdered because of it. We are often told to keep an open mind and broaden our thinking and understanding of the LGBT sector of society. But when push comes to shove, we always seem to fall short of this commitment to understand those who are different from us in terms of national heritage. However, as Fred showed those around him, native Americans have always been more than accepting, loving, caring, and respectful of those who are like Fred. As long as we refuse to accept and respect the culture of those whom we consider to have a different society from us, we will never live in a truly equal world. Fred's death serves to remind us of that disrespect. While our own LGBT community continues to struggle and win their right to fair treatment, our native American brothers and sisters who are also a member of the LGBT sector of society have been shown to live a life full of fear and uncertainty because the rules of the White Man does not apply to them and their cause. It saddens me to learn that we have a long way to go, centuries after Columbus â€Å"discovered† America and massacring the original settlers, long after we segregated them to tribal camps in the outskirts, that we as a society, have still failed to offer them the chance to be assimilated into our society based upon equality and fair treatment regardless of sexual preference or orientation. As a society, we are centuries behind our Native American counterparts who learned early on the value of the uniqueness in a person. We have a lot to learn from them in terms of the ways and means through which a thorough understanding of the two spirits that exist in the LGBT's can actually help our society evolve into a highly intricate and accepting society.