“hE’s eNtitLeD tO hIs OpINioN”
So a few years ago, in my 8th grade health class (and I’m a junior right now so this was not that long ago), at the beginning of our “relationships” unit, the teacher put a bunch of statements on the board and then put signs around the room labelled “agree”, “somewhat agree”, “somewhat disagree”, and “disagree”.
One of the prompts was, “people of different races should be able to get married”. I was the only biracial kid in that class (and one of the only ones in the whole school for that matter). Most people went to the sign labelled “agree”, but not everyone did. One of my friends called a guy who went over to “disagree” out, saying that he was racist. The teacher reprimanded my friend by saying, “he’s entitled to his opinion and you have to respect that”.
I was too much of a mouse to say so at the time, but no, we’re not going to respect people’s opinions when they’re racism, transphobic, homophobic, nativist, ableist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, or in any other way fueled by hatred. You’re entitled to your opinion if you think pineapple belongs on pizza, and I’ll respect that, even though you’re clearly wrong. But you are not entitled to spewing discriminatory statements, and I will never give you my respect for that.
I’ll always agree to disagree, unless the other side is causing innocent black people to die, unless the other side is locking children in cages, unless the other side is silencing women who speak out against abuse, unless the other side is limiting the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, unless the other side is putting minorities at risk of violence and discrimination, unless the other side is in any way hateful.
Saying that it’s just “your opinion” is never an excuse to be a bigot.
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