Like many, I grew up believing that being gay or bisexual was wrong and that participating in such activity was a sin punishable by an eternity in a fiery hell. For me, this lie came wrapped in the trappings of the Roman Catholic Church, but it might just as well have been the Mormon Church or the Southern Baptist Church because they are all different brands of the same lie. I like to refer to this lie as "chicken conditioning". Like chickens, we are given a beautiful gift. For the chicken, it is the ability to fly. For us it is our unique sexuality. Many of the traditional religions in our culture try to clip our wings back so that we won't learn to fly and express our sexuality fully. Even if we leave our childhood religion, as adults many of us carry with us the belief that we can't fly spiritually, so we never try.
"There is an axiom that only a fool is proud of what he can't help being. I was lucky to have been born a gay, but that evokes a sense of gratitude, not pride. For me, pride is the result of commitment, accomplishments and character. I feel pride when I see queer people making the world more beautiful, or responding to prejudice against us with dignity and compassionate strength. I feel pride when I see young queer people taking a same-sex date to the prom, or two lesbians getting married for the first time in Massachusetts. I feel pride when
we play sports together, do charitable works together, pray and meditate together and sing together. Most importantly I feel pride when we stand up and make our voices heard in Washington, DC and in state capitols all around this country. We are no longer a bunch of
queer individuals living in individual closets of hell. We are a community. Our community is filled with many problems and challenges, to be sure, but the fact that we stand together means that we no longer have to suffer alone. To me, that is worth marching in the streets." |
