So damn true. I hate when people make out that people who don’t belong to a certain group can therefore not have an opinion on anything to do with issues relating to that group.

An opinion should stand on its own merits, not by the race, sex, gender, sexuality etc of the person who speaks it.

I’ve literally had arguments with people who told me I couldn’t speak on certain issues because I didn’t belong to X minority group, when I’m repeating an opinion that’s identical to one that someone else has in that same group. For example — issues like “what counts as cultural appropriation” is not agreed on by members of the minority groups themselves. Indians are not monolithic on whether wearing a bindi is acceptable if you’re not brown. Black people disagree with each other on whether a white person can wear dreads. Japanese people in Japan mostly support people from other cultures who want to dress up in kimonos. So if you have an opinion on cultural appropriation, shouldn’t you be allowed to say it, regardless of your lack of belonging to X culture, because those opinions are also shared by millions in those very cultures themselves?

Same goes for arguments about cis/straight people playing trans/gay characters in movies — you can have an opinion on it whether or not you belong to those minorities. The argument, right or wrong, should stand for itself.

Ask yourself — if the person saying the opinion was completely anonymous, would you agree or disagree with the opinion? That’s all that should really matter.