Being the gay man that I am I like to think that I am stylish, knowledgeable about current events and fashions, spiritual, helpful, sensitive, loving, non judgemental, a mama's boy ... well you get the idea. I like to think as myself as a well rounded gay, I mean guy. But never have I ever considered myself powerful. Powerful enough to have future leaders of the free world trembling at the thought that one day I might be able to enter into matrimony with another man.
Powerful enough that these same powerful men spend hours, days, weeks trying to stop me from having the same rights as everybody else. The same rights that we have in many many other countries.
If you have been watching the news over the last few years you would have seen a lot of "gay" stories.
Entire churches ranting about the end of the world as we know it all because of who I love and want to marry.
Churches spending tens of millions of dollars trying to stop me from declaring my love for another man.
Religious leaders calling for gays to be rounded up and put behind fences and starved. That one really made me chuckle, after I got over the rage.
Politicians hiding behind Bible verses.
I see a pattern here.
As a child I was brought up in a semi-religious home. I did attend Sunday school, I did attend church on Sundays, occasionally.
My family went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. But that was about it. For organized religions.
One year I was visiting my parents in Texas for Christmas and it was time to get ready for midnight mass. My Grandmother loved midnight mass so my father would take her and anybody else who wanted to go. It was 1130pm and way past my bedtime, even then I went to bed early. Anyway I didn't want to go. My mom came and sat down beside me on the couch and said "Is it because the church is so against gays? That's why I won't go anymore". I didn't have the heart to tell her I was just tired.
Love your fellow human. Treat others with kindness and respect. Help out those less fortunate then you. Be kind to animals and all living things.
That in a nut shell sums up my family's religious beliefs and my feelings about organized religion.
My family does believe in God. We believe he is a loving and caring God. We believe that their are many beliefs in the world and one is not better then the next.
I kind of went off track. Power. Yes, that was the topic at hand. Anyway, who knew a kid from a small town in Florida could have so much power in the world. So much so that the most powerful men in the world want to stifle my rights for fear of ... fear of what?
Happiness?
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