This articles aims to provide guidelines for effective ways to assert GLBT alliance respectfully and effectively. Discrimination is a defensive act of insecurity. If you don't feel okay about yourself, then it's not safe for you to feel okay about people who are different from you. An insecure person has to believe that one is better than the other, and they can only believe their circle is better than someone else's square. If you felt shaky about your right to your sexuality, you'd feel threatened if someone came bouncing into the room, celebrating his sexuality.
Discrimination is a defensive act of ignorance.
A lot of times, discrimination is not a product of conscious thought, but of social constructs embedded in the person's thought processes without his or her choice. If you grew up in a homophobic household, you might be homophobic too. Many discriminatory people quickly become accepting when a friend or family member comes out these folks simply never thought about homosexuality in terms of the people they know and love. Their ignorance is diminished, and along with it, their fear. Others have discrimination so deeply rooted in their minds that it takes precedence over their love for their friends and family.