Every June my longtime blogging friend, Debra, at She Who Seeks,
celebrates Pride Month with a series of blog posts on everything LGBTQ+
with T R A N S L E S B I G A Y A P A L O O Z A.
Her posts over the years have been funny, entertaining, eyeopening, educational,
and sometimes shocking because of the hatred of people
who despise and fear people who are different from them.
I'm as straight as straight can be, but over my lifetime I've been fortunate
to have have many family members, friends, and colleagues who are not.
They have taught me so much about relationships, love, compassion, and humanity.
My Nephew Blair and I
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
December 25, 2016
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
I remember a late night conversation I had with a good friend
at the elementary school where we both had worked for years.
I went into the library to get a book I needed and saw the lamp on in his office.
He was working late too, so we took a break and started chatting.
At some point we started talking about the difficulties he experienced as a gay man,
especially those caused by people who considered homosexuality evil
and thought my friend was choosing to be gay.
These same people thought he could become a heterosexual if he wanted to.
I'll never forget sitting in the lamplight in his office and hearing him ask,
"How can I be evil, Louise? God made me."
His eyes spoke of the pain he was feeling, and after a pause he continued,
"He made me gay. I've known I was gay since I was a little boy.
I can't change who I am."
I only remember the gist of my answer which was that he wasn't evil
and that some narrow-minded, so-called "religious" people
hate and fear people who are different from them.
And that even though we live in a country which guarantees religious freedom,
some people believe they have the right to force their rigid beliefs on others.
My friend was a good, kind, and intelligent person who worked so well with children.
Our school was lucky to have him.
Our conversation was only one of many I had with friends over the decades.
But my friend's stayed with me because it was so poignant:
"How can I be evil, Louise? God made me."
I have learned beyond a doubt that wherever people fall on the LGBTQ+ spectrum,
it is not a choice. It's a fundamental part of who they are.
Research shows that sexual orientation is caused
partly by biological factors before a person is born.
You can't turn a person gay.
Persuasion, therapy, or treatment won't change a person's sexual orientation.
I think about these things a lot, and I am discouraged by the rising tide of hate
in our country that is undercutting rights and protections for LGBTQ+ people.
Sometimes it's hard to believe what is happening
or the scale with which it is happening,
like it can't really be as bad as I think it is.
And then something hits me like a sledge hammer between my eyes.
A few days ago I was drinking coffee and having a biscotti after a hard workout
with my trainer in the gym followed by a hard swim in the indoor pool.
I just wanted to relax and read the latest edition of Aurora's newspaper The Sentinel.
But my relaxation was brief.
The first thing I read was an editorial by editor Dave Perry:
His editorial was about the June 30th 6-3 Supreme Court decision
that Colorado's law barring businesses from discriminating against anyone
because of his or her race, gender, or sexual orientation
violates a business owner's right to free speech.
If you are creating something like a wedding photograph or a wedding cake,
you are an artist and what you create is an expression of artistry
and is, therefore, free speech.
You don't have to make a product in your business that goes against your beliefs,
like a wedding cake for a gay couple.
As such, your business can discriminate anyone whose beliefs are different from yours.
I get how wrong this is on a gut level.
It's like the laws in six states,
Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi and South Dakota,
that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control or Plan B prescriptions
if they have a moral or religious objection -
and those pharmacists aren't required to find another place
for a customer to fill those prescriptions.
But what really set me off in the editorial was what Dave Perry reported about an email
the Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party mass emailed to its supporters.
On June 29th Dave Williams sent a hate-meme with the subject line "Pride is evil."
It contained a graphic that showed
how the word "demon" is at the center of "Pride Month."
His GOP email went on to say,"Ultimately, these LGBTO+ reprobates
want to groom your children and sexually exploit them
so they can normalize pedophilia."
Williams went on to say, "Enough is enough.
The Colorado Republican Party will no longer be silent on this subject."
The Mass Emailed Graphic
I will no longer be silent on hate and discrimination.
I am alarmed by the surge in hate against LGBTO+ people.
And I will volunteer and vote accordingly.
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
My next post will be soon! 🤞
On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
