What Else is There To Know When Your Tax Is Shared?
This post is inspired by a memory that suddenly struck me.
When I was in 8th grade our class had to do a classroom based assessment, or CBA, if you will. The topics presented for us were those among the grey areas like abortion or the death penalty. The teacher said that if we had a different topic idea then we could tell her.
I had decided that I would do my paper on gay marriage. I relayed this to my teacher when asked to say our topics out loud and couldn’t help but notice the snickers and giggles that came my way. This did not really bother me at the time even though it probably should have and it does now.
Some short while after that - we were still working on the CBAs - one of the kids in my algebra class began his routine homophobia act. He was never really prompted for these. He would just start with no real reason. Overhearing these always managed to make my skin crawl. He was never really quiet with these conversations. The teacher could probably say something if she cared to.
That day, I was just not content to sit idly by and let him basically trash talk my sexuality. So, I went up and I said to him, “[His Name], I just want you to know that I’m bisexual. I would really like it if you would stop.” I said this pretty clearly so the whole class could hear. This must have worked because I never heard a homophobic word from him again. I have no doubt that he still ranted on but at least I didn’t have to hear about it.
As with all high schools, this news went around. My whole algebra class knew so it was only natural that they should tell everyone they know. One of these girls who had heard second hand asked me if this rumor was true. I told her yes and she said something about my CBA topic making sense.
I would like to tell her now that my being bisexual would not have affected my decision to write about being for gay marriage. If I was straight, I still would have gone through with writing that paper.
My belief in the right for gay marriage does not stem from my sexuality. It stems from my belief that everyone, gay or straight, should have a right to marry the person they love. It comes from that part of me who sees marriage not as a straight privilege or a gay right, but a basic human right that belongs to everybody.
When I was in 8th grade our class had to do a classroom based assessment, or CBA, if you will. The topics presented for us were those among the grey areas like abortion or the death penalty. The teacher said that if we had a different topic idea then we could tell her.
I had decided that I would do my paper on gay marriage. I relayed this to my teacher when asked to say our topics out loud and couldn’t help but notice the snickers and giggles that came my way. This did not really bother me at the time even though it probably should have and it does now.
Some short while after that - we were still working on the CBAs - one of the kids in my algebra class began his routine homophobia act. He was never really prompted for these. He would just start with no real reason. Overhearing these always managed to make my skin crawl. He was never really quiet with these conversations. The teacher could probably say something if she cared to.
That day, I was just not content to sit idly by and let him basically trash talk my sexuality. So, I went up and I said to him, “[His Name], I just want you to know that I’m bisexual. I would really like it if you would stop.” I said this pretty clearly so the whole class could hear. This must have worked because I never heard a homophobic word from him again. I have no doubt that he still ranted on but at least I didn’t have to hear about it.
As with all high schools, this news went around. My whole algebra class knew so it was only natural that they should tell everyone they know. One of these girls who had heard second hand asked me if this rumor was true. I told her yes and she said something about my CBA topic making sense.
I would like to tell her now that my being bisexual would not have affected my decision to write about being for gay marriage. If I was straight, I still would have gone through with writing that paper.
My belief in the right for gay marriage does not stem from my sexuality. It stems from my belief that everyone, gay or straight, should have a right to marry the person they love. It comes from that part of me who sees marriage not as a straight privilege or a gay right, but a basic human right that belongs to everybody.