By: Thomas Drendil
WHOF’s mission: To make everyone equal, because equal rights aren’t equal until everyone has them!
Since 2010, Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook (WHOF), with a simple yet powerful message and virtual platform, has been combating the negative imagery that many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals have to deal with on a daily basis from ignorant, uninformed and fearful bigotry. As has been evidenced by tragic reports of young people being bullied on the basis of sexuality and the increasing incidence of youth suicide, WHOF is a much needed wake up call to many out there that still refuse to allot basic human rights to human beings simply because of their sexual orientation — because they do not find the opposite sex attractive. Even though homosexuality isn’t a choice; To persecute an individual for having a different opinion or belief is especially appalling in a day and age when we’ve already experienced the Inquisition, Nazi Germany, the Salem Witch Trials, among many other countless examples of persecution due to differing beliefs. Not to sound too much like a member of a hippie commune, it is time we recognize that hatred of any sort does not get rid of what we hate, and, as Freud often expounded upon, the things and people we hate are, more than likely, the strongest in ourselves and thus a self-projection of our own denial of who we are. As WHOF defines on their homepage of their website, “Homophobia: insecurity about being heterosexual.”
WHOF isn’t asking for much, but rather focus primarily their attention on the media-magnet and social-media juggernaut, Facebook. Recognizing the pervading influence of Facebook on our daily lives and perceptions, they ask that rather than proliferating and compounding a harmful perception that somehow the LGBT community represents some sort of threat, we celebrate all human beings as brothers and sisters who traverse along this winding path called life together, trying to find some semblance of recognition and comfort in a world and society that constantly desires to throw us off. It’s not fair that we already deny gay and lesbian individuals basic, common rights that we afford to everyone else; to spread hate speech throughout the internet is despicable and, as mentioned earlier, sadly leads too often to tragic outcomes.
And it shouldn’t matter what religion or belief you happen to hold. There is no belief system, when read responsibly and correctly, that endorses the hatred of any individual or organization of people. In fact, most religions suggest that no one should be able to judge another human being because we all have faults, flaws, and transgressions; our sexual orientation, however, is not one of them. What WHOF stands for is what countless of civic and religious leaders have preached, proclaimed, and expounded upon for centuries: the simple caveat that we are all here on this planet not to excoriate one another and make our individual existences that much more abject, but rather to enlighten one another so that we might arrive at some nugget of a more profound meaning. Homophobia is a sickness, an insidious cancer, that infects the process of enlightenment and progress; like many other sicknesses, it is a cyst that must be exorcised from the wound so that it can be bandaged and healed rather than exacerbated by more vitriolic, cancerous cells. Homophobic groups and individuals have nothing constructive to contribute; they prey on fear and insecurity to harm individuals and families. Homophobia doesn’t sound like virtuous God’s work to me.
WHOF and its members are the crusaders who are merely fighting one battle among many in fighting the throes of cancer plaguing the minds of many, but should be supported. Please, it will barely take any time from your already busy life: check out their website at www.whof.net and their Facebook page called Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook to educate yourself on the trials and travails of millions of individuals having to deal with the constant ignorance and bigotry of civilization, and join their plight to spread the message of acceptance and enlightenment. You will not regret it.
Kevin O’Neil, founder of WHOF reports: “To date, WHOF is approaching 400,000 facebook fans supporting our mission and we’ve also been proactive in removing thousands of “Hate Pages” from Facebook. In addition, we average millions & millions of post views and website hits per month — and 100’s of letters from grateful aborted suicides.” Please visit their website to make a monetary contribution and show your support of their mission so that they may continue the fight for equal rights.
“Never confuse free speech with hate speech — hate speech kills”
WHOF: Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook,
