Freedom and phobia

After a couple of culture-lacking weeks spent running around on campus and cruising Bloomington's raging nightlife, I decided I had enough of zipping between Sports (where everyone looked young, tight and eerily plasticified) and Nick's (which always had a fair share of wrinkled folks whenever I popped my nose in there). So I decided to do good and work on a real culture accumulation of sorts. I mean, I can't just come to IU and exclusively work on my beer intake, can I? \nThis past weekend offered a great opportunity to expand my horizons and attend the Indianapolis Gay and Lesbian Film Fest. A great cultural activity. \nOr so I thought.\nIt became an excursion involving much more than just watching Margaret Cho strut her stuff and fling her wit through the audience. It became an eye-opener on how progressive the U.S. really is. Freedom of speech and opinion, right? An ignorant fear of all that is different, actually. At least everyone can show each other how biased, racist, sexist and homophobic they are with the freedom this country holds high.\nTo start with, driving to Indy required pioneering through my first ever KKK oriented township (so said by the driver) on the way to attending the opposite end of the liberal spectrum. I never knew that Indiana was a state with such contrasts. But then again, I never knew anything about Indiana prior to coming here on this exchange. \nSo there I was, perched and armed, ready to let fly with my Olympus-II camera to start clicking at the first sign of any white hoods or Confederate flags. Nope, I saw none of these in the town with the mentatlity of a Jerry Springer audience. No photos. It was there I learned about those flags like the Dukes of Hazard had flying and the three basic notions behind them. The Rebel thing, the Southern thang and the Racist thing. \nFascinating. Not that I got to photograph any of them.\nThen it was time to breathe in some homosexuality issues upon arrival at the Film Fest. What struck me was an item covering homosexuality awareness in education. Wow, here in the States being gay is still taboo (penny drops) and is seen as a sickness. I quickly pulled out my hand- embroidered Italian handkerchief just in case. It was too late. Someone in the audience coughed. Rats. \nBut seriously, some parents kept their children away from these liberal awareness sessions portrayed in the documentary because they didn't want their kids to be influenced or recruited into the gay world. Incredible.\nBy keeping this country's teens in the dark about such obviously controversial issues is only going to continue the misconceptions and let phobia run rampant. It is already difficult enough for kids to go through adolescence even without having the added struggle of coping with a scorned sexuality issue.\nWhat is it with this country which caters for freedom of speech and opinion? Is it an inherent fear of different color, race, religion, sexuality that arises through fear, misconceptions or just plain ignorance? I better watch out. Maybe homosexuality really is contagious here. It really could be a different strain than in the Netherlands where we long have accepted the normality of differing sexuality, creed and races. Just one gay and happy liberal melting pot. \nNo pun intended.