Listen to the Rain

A couple decades ago, a friend of mine went with her atheist group to support a Pride event. They had banners saying something like "Atheists support LGBT rights". And they were told to leave, that atheists weren't welcome at LGBT events.

I only share this because this kind of bigoted gatekeeping has been happening for a long time, but no one pays it any mind unless it's their own group that is targeted. Somehow, people seem to think that bigotry is fine as long as it's directed at "those others". Eventually, bigotry is directed at everyone, though, and religious history makes this perfectly clear. But not only do we not talk about bigotry, we don't even use the word anymore. Everything is conflated into "racism", even when race isn't the issue.

I've been watching in consternation as Muslims are painted as "non-white", Jews and Christians as "white", "white" as oppressor and "non-white" as oppressed, and everyone who doesn't fit the categories effectively silenced, as pointing out one's own existence is deemed tantamount to trading with the enemy. It's faulty logic, it's dangerous logic, and it drives away people who would otherwise support intersectionality and greater diversity.