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Reflective Essay On Discrimination

Decent Essays

It was hot sunny when I knocked on a stranger’s door in Inglewood California while canvassing for LGBTQ rights. I remember it clearly considering how sick I was. I had a stubborn cold, but it wasn’t as I was. Nothing was going to stop me from reaching out to as many people as I could to talk about an issue I held close to my heart. As I climbed the three steps to this modest house and knocked on the metal screen door, a petite middle-aged woman answered the door. “I don’t talk to solicitors,” she said, to which I replied “No ma’am I am not a solicitor. I am here to talk about LGBTQ equality”. Immediately I could sense hesitation, and even reluctance from her, but she seemed willing to hear me out. Her name was April, and I explained to her that I worked with a group whose mission it was to reduce discrimination by means of a conversation. In other words, this was dialogue with intention. It was imperative for me to communicate to her that I wasn’t there to judge or to preach, but to understand, to listen, and to ultimately persuade her to engage in similar dialogues in the future. I asked her on a scale of 1-10, 1 being in complete disagreement with LGBTQ rights and 10 being in complete agreement where she fell. April replied that she felt she was at about a 4. Thirty minutes into our discourse she informed me that she had a son who identified as gay, and that she struggled with this fact since she was taught that, “all gay people go to hell”. She maintained she still

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