I've been particularly disturbed by the conversation on gay teen suicide. And upset by the gay bashing at the Stonewall Inn. And while I have no clear details about these events, it has me reflecting on the hurt around sexuality during my own shaping years: both what I experienced and how I participated in hurting myself, which formed me, and shapes how I show up at work today.
How I express myself as a gay adult. I've made mistakes myself.
I rarely re-post, however, it first strikes me that Dan Savage is doing some good in reaching out to teens to let them know, "it gets better." Because it inspires, I think, all of us to salve the wounding that happens to us as we grow up. It inspires us to stop bullying each other, and to be more loving and kind as we try to make it: to create the abundance through our work to live rich lives.
And what made me cry was a straight father's comments through a story and a vision that came to him in walking his son:
Jack Baker says,
Some twenty-years ago I was out for a walk with my son, then four years old. We were strolling past the home of an openly gay couple who had just moved in some weeks before. Now my son, being the astute observer of all things in the universe, noticed the two women sitting on the porch were holding hands. “Daddy, why are those ladies holding hands?” My immediate response was “Because they are gay.” I then braced myself for what I expected was going to be a flurry of questions that I really wasn’t prepared for, or for that matter capable of answering to the satisfaction or comprehension of his four-year old mind when he asked me, “Do they love each other?” “Why yes. I’m sure they do” I replied. He looked up at me with a big smile and said, “Then that’s good.” We walked on.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could look at the issue of gay marriage with the simplistic beauty of that four-year old mind? A couple shows up at the Clerk’s office for a Marriage License. They hand over all of the proper forms and fees to the clerk. Like your typical State or County employee, the task at hand isn’t even worthy of his looking up from the racing form he is so diligently studying and he says, “Do you love each other?” The couple replies “Why yes.”
“THEN THAT’S GOOD”
Live well with each other, for good's sake.
Read more on this quote at: http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2010/09/dan-savage-tells-teenagers-that-it-gets-better/#ixzz11XS4eYwS
How I express myself as a gay adult. I've made mistakes myself.
I rarely re-post, however, it first strikes me that Dan Savage is doing some good in reaching out to teens to let them know, "it gets better." Because it inspires, I think, all of us to salve the wounding that happens to us as we grow up. It inspires us to stop bullying each other, and to be more loving and kind as we try to make it: to create the abundance through our work to live rich lives.
And what made me cry was a straight father's comments through a story and a vision that came to him in walking his son:
Jack Baker says,
Some twenty-years ago I was out for a walk with my son, then four years old. We were strolling past the home of an openly gay couple who had just moved in some weeks before. Now my son, being the astute observer of all things in the universe, noticed the two women sitting on the porch were holding hands. “Daddy, why are those ladies holding hands?” My immediate response was “Because they are gay.” I then braced myself for what I expected was going to be a flurry of questions that I really wasn’t prepared for, or for that matter capable of answering to the satisfaction or comprehension of his four-year old mind when he asked me, “Do they love each other?” “Why yes. I’m sure they do” I replied. He looked up at me with a big smile and said, “Then that’s good.” We walked on.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could look at the issue of gay marriage with the simplistic beauty of that four-year old mind? A couple shows up at the Clerk’s office for a Marriage License. They hand over all of the proper forms and fees to the clerk. Like your typical State or County employee, the task at hand isn’t even worthy of his looking up from the racing form he is so diligently studying and he says, “Do you love each other?” The couple replies “Why yes.”
“THEN THAT’S GOOD”
Live well with each other, for good's sake.
Read more on this quote at: http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/out-and-about/2010/09/dan-savage-tells-teenagers-that-it-gets-better/#ixzz11XS4eYwS
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