You and the World Blog Post #2: Surveys and Gayborhoods

Posted by Lindsey Jones on Friday, January 18, 2013 at 1:53 pm

Taking a step back into present day, homosexuality is now more controversial than ever. But it seems that people are now more open to expressing their opinions about the topic as opposed to prior times. I decided to do my own investigating and wanted to get the opinions of today's youth. The children that will be running the world as we know it when they are adults.

I initiated a majority of my student body to take some time and complete a survey asking them about their beliefs and opinions of homosexuality as a whole. From the results, many of them agreed with one another. And there were some who weren't afraid to express their true feelings. I do appreciate how everyone was very mature about the matter, it seems that they were all eager to get their thoughts out.

Here are the results from that survey. If you are interested in taking it yourself, click here.

Instead of just asking them “yes” or “no” questions, I wanted to get an actual response from them (if possible) about what their exact opinions were. And why they made the decisions they did when answering the questions. One of the main questions that was was “What do you think makes people go against/support gay marriage?”. The results were recorded as follows.

I then gave them the option to expand on their reasoning...

“God constituted marriage between man and women, not women and women and man and man. Therefore, I don't support homosexuality. But that does not mean I hate them, because as a Christian you are supposed to love everyone. Homosexuality is not a natural God made thing and therefore I don't support it.”

“Fear of something they know nothing about. You fear the unknown so you don't give it a chance.”

These were some of the most interesting responses. Everyone seemed to have their own logical reasoning for their beliefs and it was really impressive. Coming from an unbiased point of view, not many of the responses sway me to either side of the bar.

A majority also believed that the reason people were against gay relationships were the doings of religion. A common belief, and understandable. Throughout history the Christian bible has been taken out of context, and caused the condemning of race and sexuality. Since homosexuality is such a big phenomena now, a new gay friendly “Queen” James bible has been created. According to sources, the book has corrected the passages from the original bible that seem to have bashed homosexuality. A nice buy for those interested out there.

I plan on expanding on this topic. I could possibly interview someone who feels comfortable expressing their opinions on camera. But on the other hand, lets get into the exciting part. I’m from Philly, if you didn’t already realize it. One of the most cultured cities in the States. When deciding what topic I could do my YTW on, I knew it had to be something that I could interact with. Aside from the popular Rocky statue and cheese steaks, there is a much mesmerizing element. The Gayborhood.

Philadelphia’s gayborhood runs through 7th and 8th in Broad Streets and between Chestnut and South Street. The entire area makes almost a perfect square. Making it almost impossible to get lost, just look for the street signs with a rainbow under them. Within the neighborhood are gay and lesbian businesses, bars and restaurants. It is known for coming alive at night, definitely not a place for kids. However the wide range of restaurants attract people of all shades and sexualities. But aside from the entertainment scene, there are other places that attract different types. Literature. Located at 345 South St, is Gionvanni’s Room. America’s oldest gay lesbian owned bookstore. Giovanni’s book collection caters to those that enjoy bisexual, transexual, gay and lesbian literature and recent reviews say...

“Its very nice must go and try out you will like”

and

“The biggest, best, and most beautiful lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual store in the land. Online and physical. Queer studies a specialty.”

The picture above depicts an in depth look inside Giovanni’s. The wide range of books look interesting from a glance.

I hope on my journey through the gayborhood, I can take a stop by and have a little conversation with the owners. Maybe I can even grab a bite to eat in one of the restaurants nearby? One of the main purposes of this journey is to get a feel of the gay lifestyle. Being a person that came into this project with an open and free mind. I don't want to choose between being for gays or not, but to get a better understand of something so controversial and share it with you guys.

Looking back at the survey results, everyone views gayness differently. People have their own beliefs and views, and discriminating against them will do nothing good. I really enjoyed the fact that a lot of people actually volunteered to take the survey, regardless of how uncomfortable the subject might make them. It really opens everyone’s eyes of future. The young faces that we see today will be running the world tomorrow. Will our views change? Are the same people who support gay rights, going to be against it in upcoming years? Conversions maybe? Will gayness be accepted and the discrimination be another thing of civil rights? There are so many unanswered questions.

Take a look at my bibliography here
And if you'd like to view my previous blog post click here

Comments (3)

Andrew Roberts

You did a very good job Lindsey! I would simply like to say that the "Queen James Bible" is wrong to make. In Revelation, Jesus says how if anyone takes away or adds to the bible, they will be condemned. That is exactly what this bible is doing. It is not correct, and should not be counted credible by any church in the world.

Nashay Day

That was very shopping, I did not know that most there was a neighborhood of gay people, that is really interesting to me. I fully support gay marriage and think that anyone should marry whoever they please.

Deja Johnson

I loved how you were you able to pull the reader in. Your charts and evidence were very good. I also liked the questions you asked. Your visuals got your point across and the end was great.