Wednesday, January 21, 2009

I AM Not Afraid

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 one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

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 home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics 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 did not 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 who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.


I am the guy who came out to the entire school in his senior speech and
got
a standing ovation for his courage.

I am the girl who kisses her girlfriend on the sidewalk and laughs at
those
who glare.

We are the couple who planned and studied and got a damn good lawyer
and
BEAT the state that wanted to take our child away.

We are the ones who took martial arts classes and carry pepper spray
and are
just too dangerous to gaybash.

I am the transgendered person who uses the bathroom that suits me, and
demands that any complaining staff explain their complaint to my face
in
front of the entire restaurant -- and shares with my other trans
friends
which restaurants /don't/ raise a stink.



I am the mother who told her lesbian daughter to invite her girlfriend
over for dinner

I am the father who punished his son for calling you a fag.

I am the preacher who told my congregation that love, not hate, is the
definition of a true follower of God.

I am making a difference. Hate will NOT win.
ANONYMOUS

10 comments:

  1. Thank you for visiting my blog #371 One World-One Heart. I entered your name in my giveaway for those beautiful "Bella's Mittens!" Good Luck!

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  2. I wish I could wave a magic wand and erase all the cultural ills that harm the world. Thanks for being a voice that speaks out about it.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. BRAVO!

    So poignant...made me cry...we should all be so luck to be as unafraid!

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  5. I've read this before and every time I read it- it moves me!

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  6. I love this! Please count me in!

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  7. beautiful needle felted piece.
    would be proud to hang it.


    willa
    willa.mcneill@gmail.com

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