| This is the sort of thing I usually reserve for my blog dadpoet.wordpress.com. Normally this space is mostly for poetry, and some fun with my sons, especially when that fun involves fun with language, as in the Dad Libs playlist (A new one of those is on the production table right now, btw). But this video http got my attention because I did wear purple on the 20th. I went through a long and difficult struggle coming out. My faith was very important to me, and I was being told from the pulpit, the radio, the TV and from all sides that homosexuality was a moral evil. I spent my teen years in denial and deep in the closet, almost literally. I cannot tell you how many nights I sat in a corner of my room, crying because these "evil thoughts" would not go away, no matter how I prayed. Turns out, there was nothing evil about the desire for companionship and love from a member of my own gender. Unusual? Sure, that's fair. If normal is what most people do, it wasn't normal. But neither was it immoral. I was believing the misinformation passed down for ages by some actually sincere people. Sure there are hate mongers out there, but to be fair, many of those who disagree with me do so out of the same convictions that I had. It's just they never had to face it head on like I did, or like many who do when they find that someone they love deeply is gay. It's easier to think less of a class of people if your religion tells you to. But more than that, it's easy for a culture to ... |
