5.17.2012

Hop Against Homophobia


Click here for the full list of participating blogs

Welcome to my stop on the blog hop ♥ Today is International Day Against Homophobia. The purpose of the Hop Against Homophobia is twofold: "To bring awareness to homophobia and to stand together as an m/m writer community to fight discrimination against the m/m genre."

Homophobia is unfortunately quite prevalent in my family, despite my efforts to fight it.

Two years ago, my 15yo gay nephew committed suicide. None of us saw it coming. It's impossible to say for certain why it happened, and it was likely a combination of many things. But I often wonder if it might have been avoided if his siblings and parents hadn't been so blatantly homophobic. Don't get me wrong--they were all very close and got along incredibly well. But they made no secret their opinion of LGBT people, and he was always the odd one out with his passion for acting and singing when the rest of his brothers were all about football.

As a mother, I am constantly teaching my daughter, both in words and by example, to be open-minded and accepting of everyone's differences. It can oftentimes be frustrating with relatives and friends undermining what I teach her by doing thoughtlessly ignorant things, such as making a face and saying, "Ew!" whenever anything remotely homosexual is mentioned or substituting "That's so gay," for "That's stupid."

In the grand scheme of things, these slights seem minor, but they still have the power to hurt. More than that, they can build into something much more potent, much more damaging.
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I'm offering an ebook of either my novella Incognito or the anthology Midnight Seduction: Manlove Edition to one random commenter. You can learn more about both on my Writing Page. (you can also see the covers on the sidebar -->)

To enter, just leave a comment with your email address. Contest ends the last day of the hop, May 20th.

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Also, here's a reminder that the Erotic Romance Scavenger Hunt is coming in one week! You'll have the chance to win a ton of individual prizes, as well as a grand prize of 20 books!

Thanks for stopping by! ♥
Posted by at 7:00 AM

21 comments:

  1. UnknownMay 17, 2012 at 8:33 AM

    Thank you for sharing.
    musings-of-a-bookworm@hotmail.co.uk

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  2. KateyMay 17, 2012 at 8:38 AM

    Tragic :( It's those little but super hurtful comments that really pile on. Gotta keep fighting the good fight to hold it at bay but... damn. Thanks for this post, Miho. *fist bump* and see ya at the scavenger hunt.

    kate[at]kateyhawthorne[dot]com

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  3. KimberlyFDRMay 17, 2012 at 10:06 AM

    Love should always triumph over hate and I believe it always will!

    Thank you for taking part in the hop :)

    kimberlyFDR@yahoo.com

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  4. AnonymousMay 17, 2012 at 10:52 AM

    I'm so sorry for your loss. And I do believe it could have been prevented.

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  5. AndreaMay 17, 2012 at 2:52 PM

    Thank you for sharing and for participating in the blog hop.

    andreagrendahl AT gmail DOT com

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  6. Michael Offutt, Phantom ReaderMay 17, 2012 at 2:57 PM

    I'm so sorry to hear that of your nephew. It saddens my heart. I'm gay and I wish that kids out there would understand that they are beautiful just the way they are and that they didn't have a choice. It's just nature. It makes me so mad against the religious right which is behind most if not all of the bigotry.

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  7. KassandraMay 17, 2012 at 6:43 PM

    Thank you for being a part of such a wonderful hop!

    sionedkla@gmail.com

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  8. Tara LainMay 17, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    I'm so sorry about your nephew! And all the poor kids who feel it's better to die than live in this homophobic world.

    Looking forward to the Hunt! : )

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  9. gigiMay 17, 2012 at 7:29 PM

    Thanks for sharing. Great post!

    gisu29(at)gmail(dot)com

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  10. Hayley B JamesMay 17, 2012 at 8:13 PM

    I'm so sorry about your nephew. One day this world won't be so cruel to people like him.
    Thank you for sharing.

    hayley.b.james@gmail.com

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  11. N.J. Nielsen/ SaddingtonMay 17, 2012 at 8:34 PM

    First off I am so sorry about your nephew and I also believe that our children believe what we instil in them. I know my daughter is open minded, and will pass the trait onto any children she may have. Thank you for taking part and sharing this post.

    normanielsen@bigpond.com

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  12. AnonymousMay 18, 2012 at 4:45 PM

    I'm so sorry about your nephew! I'm sure he'd be proud of you for telling his story, and participating in the hop.

    vitajex(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  13. BMay 18, 2012 at 9:25 PM

    Thank you for teaching your kids the right way to be a good human. It is so important! <3
    Thank you for participating in the hop, Miho!
    Bella
    bellaleone4 at gmail dot com
    www.bellaleonebooks.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. ForettaMay 18, 2012 at 10:25 PM

    I showed a bunch of these post to the teens in my family to show them how hurt some "innocent" remarks are to many others. I get so annoyed when my nephew says "you're so gay". ERRRR drove me crazy. I know he didn't mean anything by it but it is so wrong to use that as a saying. I think that these post have helped. Thank you all for sharing with us!
    forettarose@yahoo.com

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  15. AnonymousMay 19, 2012 at 9:29 AM

    I'm very sorry about your nephew. 15 is such a fragile age, when cruel remarks about sexuality can feel like the end of the world. I hope that if you have younger readers who feel shamed or hurt by the remarks of friends and family, they read this and realize there is still a lot of love in the world. Being a gay teen was very tough for me. Being a gay adult is just fine and getting better every year.

    Thanks for the post!

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  16. YvetteMay 19, 2012 at 12:11 PM

    I am very sorry to hear about the tragedy that fell upon your family and nephew. We need to think before we speak!
    Yvette
    yratpatrol@aol.com

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  17. AnonymousMay 19, 2012 at 1:11 PM

    I'm so sorry about your nephew. No one should ever feel so alone or rejected that they see no other option except suicide. I am glad that a dialogue has been started in America. I am grateful that the "It Gets Better" videos are out there. Every little bit of support helps.

    geishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com

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  18. L.M. BrownMay 20, 2012 at 3:45 AM

    Another heart-breaking story of something that should not happen in this day and age. I am sorry about your nephew and can only hope that his parents and siblings learned something from the tragedy.

    Thank you for sharing your story, which I am sure was painful to do so.

    lmbrownauthor at gmail dot com

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  19. wulfMay 20, 2012 at 4:34 PM

    I'm so sorry about your nephew.

    Thanks for participating in this hop. I'm enjoying all the great blog posts.

    penumbrareads(at)gmail(dot)com

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  20. Loveless3173May 20, 2012 at 4:58 PM

    Thank you for sharing your story.
    I am so sorry about your nephew... I am so sad that he felt he was alone and took his own life. I hope someday soon, in the future, no one else will feel the need to take their lives. That they know they are loved and most definitely not alone.

    Thank you for being a part of this blog hop!

    Judi
    arella3173_loveless(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  21. PeggyMay 20, 2012 at 8:52 PM

    Thank you for the post. The hop was great.

    peggy1984@live.com

    ReplyDelete

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