This weird feeling when another group is around and shining is an underlying cause of xenophobia. It’s natural for some people to strive to belong to a group, and it’s natural to be cautious of a group you don’t belong to because the animal part of your brain can take the group as a threat, and rightfully so in some cases.
In other cases, when there’s nothing threatening about a group, that animal part should be kept at bay by conscious effort, by understanding both the group and its pain and the origin of your feelings. Many people don’t know how to do this, and this is the biggest problem. Especially when instead of teaching how to build bridges, instead of learning new things about the other, people just go into defense mode. I’m so devastated to observe this everywhere now.
That said, LGBTQ people still have to fight for their rights, because lots of people still get murdered even in the US and that’s unacceptable. ‘Shoving it in your face’? I personally would love to stop it once people finally get accustomed to the idea being different doesn’t mean being a threat and we stop being bullied and harassed and murdered every frickin day.
I’m foreign, so I googled Puerto Ricans and man do those guys have a rich history and culture. Man they have so much to offer the world, and queer folks too, they all have so many things to tell if you just ask, so many out-of-the-box things I bet you’ve never thought about. You clearly don’t want to ask though, so okay.