Although I don’t use my site very often to speak about anything other than its main topic of beauty, this is something I’ve thought about all day and know that in this instance it’s the right thing to do. Not least because members of the LGBT community feel that there is less focus on the gunning down of 50 men and women in Florida at the weekend than there has been on other senseless killings.
I’ve scrolled all through my timelines and while there are some messages indicating support, it’s nowhere near the same level as other incidents, so at the very least, I can add my voice of anger and upset. As someone who was actively unfollowed for ‘offensive content’ after speaking of the Caitlyn Jenner MAC lipstick – the only time the unfollow reason has been deemed offensive in 8.5 years of blogging – I know it’s an issue that people have varying thoughts on.
In beauty world, there is an intense diversity of culture, creed, skin tone and sexuality, and somehow we do work as one – beauty is the common bond that ties people from every walk of life together. I guess you might think that gender/sexuality isn’t relevant to a lipstick, but skill, creativity and talent doesn’t just fall to one group of people, it falls to many, and we are lucky to have a wealth of all those things in the beauty industry in the UK.
So, when you pigeon hole someone on the basis of their sexuality alone you are missing so many other things. How people choose to love shouldn’t be any kind of discriminating factor, we should just be glad that they do. Getting too interested in other people’s intimacy really suggests an inability to see bigger picture stuff as a whole and that’s a problem. Gender or sexuality isn’t relevant to anything at all unless you make it so.
LGBT communities still struggle against discrimination – it’s shocking that who you lay your head down next to makes you a target for any kind of hate behaviour. Working in this community means that I do not and will not judge anyone based on sexuality, religion, culture or race. I can’t change anyone else’s beliefs but I can put my words down here and say that I’m so sad for the parents, lovers, children and families as well as the victims. In the face of this, who’s loving who, how they’re loving each other and where they might be doing so is beyond irrelevant. Anyone should be able to walk down a street, eat in restaurant or go to club without fear for their lives; the fact that sexuality was the reason for death and injury is just painful.
There are a lot of hard issues to face about yourself if you judge on sexuality alone because love doesn’t have one face, it is multi-faceted and I think we know the world does better on love than it ever has on judgement. I’m proud of my friends and family from the LGBT community and support and stand beside them in being exactly who they are.
NB: Update. I’m seeing so many amazing Instagrams from beauty bloggers/vloggers/Instagrammers on the #loveislove tag – look them up and join in with painting a rainbow on your face or body.
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