HOMOPHOBIA

On the bright side--my life this week
@GreatMartin (23670)
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
April 18, 2016 12:03pm CST
My friend wrote this in 2006 and said I could print it--sadly so much of it is true. It is long but I am hoping it will start a lively (but polite) discussion here. We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men. I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me. I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman. I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman. I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male. I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men. I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a name everyday I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian. I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman. I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights. We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time. I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room. I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me. I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. I am the woman who died when the EMTs stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual. I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didnt have to always deal with society hating me. I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind. I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love. I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends im a lesbian, because they constantly make fun of them. I am the boy tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die because two straight men wanted to "teach me a lesson"
8 people like this
7 responses
@amadeo (111937)
• United States
18 Apr 16
This so true there.I am glad that you have the permission to do this.Thank your for sharing.
2 people like this
@GreatMartin (23670)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
19 Apr 16
And now we have the 'religious' going at it again. They are picking and choosing from the bible as to what to believe--they won't bake a cake for a Gay couple but they will for someone who has divorced and is getting married again--just one example.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382259)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Apr 16
This is very, very sad. Thankfully some of these events would not happen in Australia now. We have certainly moved on from these times.
1 person likes this
@GreatMartin (23670)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
19 Apr 16
That's not what some of my friends who live in Sydney say. Do they allow Gays to adopt? Get Married? (And I can go on.)
1 person likes this
@GreatMartin (23670)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
22 Apr 16
@JudyEv Would it be enough for you? :O)
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382259)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Apr 16
@GreatMartin I'm not sure of the laws so perhaps I have it very wrong. I do not believe that they would be treated badly in hospital though. And I know many are living together, including politicians, and leading some sort of normal life. I still believe it is better than it was.
1 person likes this
@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
18 Apr 16
In this day and age it is heartbreaking to read this post. Thanks for posting this maybe some person who has leaned the way of one of these will see how wrong they are.
1 person likes this
@GreatMartin (23670)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
19 Apr 16
I certainly hope so.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
18 Apr 16
Surely things have moved on in the 10 years since this was written? Obviously I don't have personal experience of this sort of thing, but I would have thought that people were generally much more accepting now. Some of the things cited here made me wince.
1 person likes this
@GreatMartin (23670)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
19 Apr 16
In some countries they are exactly the same--in others they are a bit better and England is ahead of the USA. :O)
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22405)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
18 Apr 16
Violence is so often the easy way out. Tolerance has to begin at home, from the heart - not from a legislator's pen. Nicely written.
1 person likes this
@GreatMartin (23670)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
19 Apr 16
There is very little tolerance in the world today.
1 person likes this
@WorDazza (15826)
• Manchester, England
18 Apr 16
Extremely powerful and moving piece. Sadly, you can legislate for equality until the cows come home, but until individual attitudes change these things will continue. We're getting there, in that respect, but there's still an awful long way to go!!
1 person likes this
@GreatMartin (23670)
• Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
19 Apr 16
Yes those last 4 words say it all--people think there isn't a problem anymore.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (54716)
• United States
22 May 16
This is a very moving post......much love to you.