It’s always absurd when a bigot apologizes to unintended targets of their hate. “Oh no, I didn’t mean you. It’s just that I don’t know the difference between you and the people I hate. My mistake.”
You’d think that making the mistake in the first place invalidated the entire worldview and basis for hatred.
I'm gay and came out over 40 years ago. If someone calls me gay, I thank them for recognizing the superpower within me. Gay has been a gift from heaven above, and if we're honest human animals, all of us have a big variety of sexual thoughts and desires. It's all just sexuality, no more important than what your favorite food is, but no less important than food either.
Honestly yeah. I was once ashamed, but it’s kinda awesome. I get a ton of experiences that I’m so grateful to have had that I wouldn’t if I wasn’t gay. I wouldn’t miss them if I didn’t know about them, but I’d never knowingly trade them. This is the way I am and I’m glad I get to be me instead of being someone else.
I was lucky to have a supportive environment and parents, so I really never felt any "shame" over being gay - and I admit, it's hard for me to understand why anybody would. I do live in a very ultra conservative red state, and I get a lot of bigoted small minded comments, but to me it just reflects that person's own inner turmoil. And I really would choose being gay every time if I was given any choice of sexual orientation.
Then you haven't met my wife's extended family, LOL. A couple of them are real pieces of work. People are people after all.
That said, Sikhism as a non-proselytizing and minority religion (outside Punjab) will tend not to have as many religious zealots up in everybody's face.
I have family by marriage in the Sikh community, including my father-in-law. I have all the respect in the world for anyone who can take that level of ignorance and instead of making the decision to try to escape the situation with simple demographic facts -- a decision which is both rational for their self-preservation and vital to their self-identity -- they instead volunteer to stay in danger because standing up for the oppressed is the right thing to do. It's a very peculiar and heartbreaking burden that Sikhs have in many countries, and I've seen it taken on bravely much more often than not.