Abandonment.
You could say that January has been my month of optimism (whether or not it pays off? Quite another story). I've been humbled to silence by the transition of power in Washington. I've seen MILK twice and have been rendered furious at the cyclical nature of civil rights, the profoundly harmful nature of apathy and obliviousness.
It becomes an incredibly simple thing to eradicate the rights of others when the body of majority culture does not, will not see the group being infringed as human. It falls then to that marginalized group to have to make a case for their own intrinsic humanity, to remind the majority that they not only exist but are infact not the monsters they are imagined to be. It is a matter hard not to resent. The ability to live a life similar to your peers and fellow citizens hanging on whether or not they believe you "deserve" it. Whether or not my life is he equivalent of a third of someone elses, whether or not a so called "lifestyle choice" should mean an individual should be reduced to a lesser status in the eyes of the law. It is hard not to resent being made to make this case in a society where all are supposed to be of the same human equivalent. I can't help but be painfully aware of my humanness, and the innate comonality that binds me to those that would seek to alinenate themselves from us for their theological reasons (Which is not entirely dissimilar from the biblical rationale for slavery once bandied about). I watch MILK, look at statistics about the gay teen homless (abandoned) population in large cities and the staggeringly awful suicide rates, and cannot help but feel the gravity of how little is being done. How the sin and "disapointment" of having gay children somehow justifies dragging them off to camps to be reprogrammed like VCRs, or throwing them out like some sort of failed expriment I've yet to see. What I do see, and see often is the toll being shunned by, cast out by their own families has on kids. How conditional love happens to be in reality.
I submit that perhaps this tendency to reject out of misunderstanding, out of wrongheaded assertions is understandable on its face, but the results are so damaging, so reprehensible, so unforgivable that I cannot bring myself to forgive it. Do any of you (4) readers out there have experiences or stories about abandonment? Or know any kids that have been similarly put out or written off by their families for being gay? If so, I'd like to hear about and discuss them here.
In this vein, I'm posting a link to the much hyped tv movie Prayers for Bobby, that discusses (from what I'm told quite deftly) the themes mentioned above. Give it a look.