In·tol·er·ance. Inˈtäl(ə)rəns. Noun. Unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own. What does intolerance mean for you? For some people it means being scared to leave their own home, or bedroom. For others, it means fighting back against oppressors, or a terrorist group. Intolerance can be practiced in a multitude of different situations, whether they are harmful or helpful, for good or for bad, is up to the person fighting. Imagine you are in a bar, either grabbing a drink with your friends, or finding the person you would be with for the night, when police barge in and start roughly taking patrons and employees to god knows where. You’re scared and panicking. That's what the patrons who were in the Stonewall …show more content…
Growing up, his mother, JoAnne Brandon described him by saying, “She was a prankster, and she was a tomboy.” As Brandon became a teenager, his tomboyishness began to evolve into something more. He would stuff a sock into his pants, he changed his name from Teena Brandon to Brandon Teena, and he began to date local girls. Brandon’s mother refused to acknowledge this change and refused to accept that her daughter was actually her son. The humiliation and name-calling Brandon faced eventually led him to attempt suicide. He was taken to a crisis center by his best friend, Saran Lyons. Brandon began to use forged checks to buy or even steal things for his girlfriends. By 1993 Brandon faced several accounts of accounts of theft and forgery. Brandon later befriended two ex-convicts who ended up brutally raping him when they found out he was not biologically male, shortly after Brandon’s twenty-first birthday. Then, on New Years Eve, 1993, the two men that raped Brandon raided Lisa Lambert’s house, where Brandon had been hiding out since he was raped. Lambert was the single mother of an eight-month-old baby and she had also allowed Philip Devine, a friend visiting from Iowa. In a later-recorded testimony, Tom Nissen would describe how he forced Teena to stand while John Lotter shot him at point-blank range. Nissen then stabbed Teena, insuring his death. They …show more content…
Between modern day Nazis, to misogyny and racism from the man that we call the president of the United States intolerance and hate can seem overwhelming at times. Intolerance is present everywhere, no matter if it’s a country as fortunate as the United States, or a third-world country where the majority of the population is under the poverty line, or a country where girls are being married off to men they don’t love as young as their early teens, whether they want to or not. There is no denying intolerance is an issue. One in four women will be raped or sexually assaulted in some way. Eighty six percent of LGBT students report being bullied. Forty-one percent of transgender people will attempt suicide at least one in their lives. I, being a transgender and gay boy, have experienced intolerance firsthand. I am scared to use the bathroom I want because I don't want to be harassed or confronted about “being in the wrong bathroom.” Intolerance will never be fully be stopped, but we can attempt to minimize it if we just work