When my parents were growing up, the N-word was still commonly used, mostly in children’s rhymes. There was no deliberate intention to offend, and even as children we would have been horrified to learn about the connotations that the word still carries in the USA and elsewhere. Similarly, their school readers and picture books contained information about “Eskimos” and their way of life, and they wouldn’t have been aware of the term Inuit. Back then many boys and men thought it was chivalrous to whistle at a woman in the street because it was a way of complimenting her for her looks. Some men still think that.
Only recently, I was corrected when I used the term “wheelchair-bound”. The appropriate term now is “wheelchair user”. The reason for the distinction – and it means a lot to persons with disability (not “disabled people”) – is that the older term denies the person any agency, although one could also point out that not all wheelchair users are entirely dependent upon them. The fact that people using the older term might not intend to cause offence, and that persons with disability might realise that, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. The very least that persons with disability can expect is that, once the sensitivity is made clear, one tries to remember to use the preferred term. What is not acceptable is if one reacts by saying something like “Oh come on, I didn’t mean to offend, get over it!”
This is what being “woke” means. It means recognising that people that are different from you are still people, and that the minimum they deserve is to be described by terms that do not gratuitously hurt them.
When it comes to LGBTQ+ people one runs up against religious views, which are a whole other subject for discussion. Setting these aside, however, it’s not too much to ask that you consider them simply as people, some clever, others less so, some talented, others perhaps not, some beautiful, others not (according to your aesthetic).
The same applies to people of other religions. I am not so naive as to deny that some Muslims are terrorists, that some are misogynists, or that some are bigots. But I also know that many more are kind, and that when it comes to how they dress, especially how Muslim women dress, many choose freely, even if some are forced. I am also aware that there are those who call themselves Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus etc. who are terrorists, misogynists and bigots. So yes, until you have other evidence that someone is bad, you don’t make judgements based on their religion or their choice of clothing.
“Woke” is not something that was dreamed up to make us change our sexual orientation, or to make white people feel bad about the colour of our skin, or to “lead children astray”. It’s about a choice. Are you one of those who consider that slavery wasn’t so bad, that if black people are deprived, or abused by the police, it’s their own fault, that it’s okay to dominate, abuse and even rape women, or to commit violence against any people that you consider as different from you?
Or do you want to be considered a decent person?