Is this like racism?

 In a post about smoking, one of our bloggers took a shot at LGBTQ+ people.

The comment seemed to come out of the blue.

Earlier that same day...

I was having a quiet time minding a class at Nuova Lazio High. The kids were spread out and 'working' in groups, so I had very little to do. One boy was sitting with a girl, who seemed to be his girlfriend, and playing a guitar. They are both nice kids. He knew a bit about my musical background. He asked me to show him what he should do next to improve his playing. I told him that he should learn the five pentatonic scale positions. I had time on my hands, so I carefully wrote them out in diagram form and showed him how to read the diagram. I suggested he should learn one or two positions slowly. He was a good student and listened to my advice.

They both play a bit of guitar, so I said to them, "Do you know that there are two excellent guitar tutors here at school? You should both get some lessons."

The girl replied, "No. One of them is a transvestite. He's breaking God's law."

What followed was a short 'discussion' about religion. A lot of stock phrases came out like, "It says so in the bible." They were well schooled up on how to argue religion, but I'd heard it all before.

One was a Catholic. They were both very against LBGTQ+ people.

Like in most social groups, there are quite a lot of LGBTQ+ people at this school. I worry for them as there seem to be a lot of Christian people at the school. How hard is it to accept that there is a wide spectrum of different types of people who have been born, like everyone else, with a set of needs or wishes. You have to understand that the majority of people don't have a choice about what they will be. 

They are NOT sinning or breaking some law. They are just trying to be true to themselves. It seems to me that, if there was a Christian god, he has stuffed up quite badly.

There is too much hatred in this world.

There is too much self importance.

There are too many stupid people.

That guitar teacher who dresses in women's clothes is a great person and a very good musician.

That guitar teacher is also my brother / sister.