As a member of the LGBT community, there are always going to be those people who don’t quite understand or agree with the life that you live.

Most of the time our reaction to these individuals is anger and a lack of understanding why they hold these beliefs toward our lives. One thing we often overlook is that the individuals who feel this way about LGBT individuals probably are unfamiliar with what LGBT people are really like.

Still today, the LGBT population is a foreign concept for many to grasp simply because of the limited exposure they have had to people who identify as LGBT.

The big question is, how do we as a community change these harmful and potentially negative attitudes others may have toward us? The answer is a simple one. We show people who we are. We show people that identifying as an LGBT person transcends the negative stereotypes that have been brought to light about our community. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, members of the LGBT community come in all different shapes, sizes and colors. Loving the same sex is not what defines us primarily as people. There is much more to us than whom we chose to love or how we express our gender.

Taking the time to understand where people get these beliefs can help. By simply having conversations with people, understanding their upbringings and realizing why it is they think the way they do, maybe some positive and forward-thinking discussion can occur and potentially change hearts and minds.

It really does take work and patience on both sides. Of course, you may run into people that are stuck in their ways of thinking and aren’t willing to have a calm discussion.

We must try though, because without trying to start dialogue, we will be stuck in the same stand still. In the end it’s all about showing people we are human, we live normal lives. What we seek is the right to simply love another person.