I hope it's okay to post here. This debate has really awakened me, and made me ashamed.

Mike 03

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Sat Nov-08-08 05:24 PM
Original message

I hope it's okay to post here. This debate has really awakened me, and made me ashamed.

Edited on Sat Nov-08-08 05:46 PM by Mike 03

This post is half cross-posted, and much of it is new. This seems to be the smart place to post these sentiments.

All of these discussions have reminded me of something I had forgotten, or pushed out of my memory.

It was a selfless transgender male who took care of my grandmother after she suffered a severe stroke. I've never in my life met anyone who was more giving, dependable or devoted to such an unpleasant task. I'm referring to her as she, because that is what she wanted, but I remember that we flew to another country to attend a family reunion, and how bravely she coped with all the trials and tribulations of trying to render care in a fairly conservative area. To the credit of my relatives, nobody said anything bad to her, but had I been her, I would have been really frightened of what could have been the response.

She was later murdered. So, she's gone. But I think about her and the enjoyable times we spent together with my sisters during the reunion, when I really got to know her. We drank beer together and smoked cigarettes (which I almost never do).

Gay and Lesbian people are all around us. They care for our parents, our grandparents, our children. My two most influential teachers were gay. One of them was a writing teacher who died of AIDS. The other lived a long, healthy life. They were amazing people and I think about them often. They changed my life.

I want to tell you something about my writing teacher who (unbeknownst to us) had and died from AIDS. Even though he knew he was dying, he read our screenplays closely, he offered comments, he once called me at ten at night to give me a screenplay critique. Here a man is dying and he is struggling to be a good teacher.

So, two Gay teachers in my life helped me choose my path. They essentially told me what I was good at, and thankfully they were right. And I loved them for that. Although I mourn for the one who died, because we students were not permitted to know, so we could never say "goodbye." That hurts to this day.

We need to pay back what we have received. It's only right. And that payback includes observing the Constitution of the United States in which everyone, regardless of race, sexual orientation, or anything, is treated equally.

The point of this post is that even though I'm a proud Liberal Democrat, I have not been as sensitive to Gay/Lesbian issues as I should have been, and I'm ashamed of that fact.

But I promise you two things, and I mean this from the very gut of my being:

1. I will never ever take gay/lesbian issues lightly again.
2. I'm joining the fight. This whole thing of trying to barter and negotiate who deserves equal rights and who doesn't is nonsense of the first order. I will never, ever remain silent when this issue comes up. Because, this process of looking back has really enlightened me about how important people with different sexual orientations have been in my life. I would be the most pathetic, hypocritical person in the world not to take a stand on this.