This was written by one of my best friends in the world. This is so spot on and I’m so proud to be his friend. Please feel free to SHARE! xox OTEP xox
“In some ways, I had a truly privileged childhood. I grew up in Philadelphia, where, if you went to private school, you almost certainly went to a Quaker school, and those cats had their shit together. I didn’t grow up rich - far from it - but when my folks got divorced, my old man made sure I’d get the best education available, and I got to go to Quaker school. Took me decades to realize how privileged I was.
We had a class when I was in Tenth Grade called “Religious Thought.” It was basically comparative religion, but we dove deep into social issues as well. Boring as hell at the time. Indispensable in retrospect.
One day in the late Seventies, our teacher (Teacher Stephanie. Awesome lady) announced that next week’s class was going to consist of some gay dude coming in and talking to us about gay stuff.
About a year before that, I’d seen two men kissing each other outside The Post on 18th & Chancellor, and asked my Dad what that was all about. My old man - a former Green Beret paratrooper who took me to every Clint Eastwood movie ever made, and helped me form my idea of what it is to be a fucking MAN - shrugged his shoulders and told me, “They love each other.”
As in: “Who gives a shit? Walk on.”
So:
Teacher Stephanie brought this gay dude in to talk to us about what it was like to be gay in America in the late seventies, and whatever he said was, I’m sure, pretty cool, but honestly, I only remember one thing about that class, and it was this:
One of the biggest jocks in the class begged her to give him permission not to attend the class, because he was worried that that goddam queer might look at him. Implying, of course, that if that goddam queer looked at him, it would make HIM goddam queer.
And 15 year old me, having never thought about the subject for more than maybe three minutes, suddenly knew something about that jock - and guys in general - that I’d never had cause to think about before.
I mean, seriously - do you have to be Sigmund fucking Freud to understand that homophobia is entirely based on self-loathing?
Watching the news, it’s clear that some people are genuinely surprised to discover that Omar Mateen was a regular at Pulse; that he sat in the corner for YEARS, getting drunk; or that he hung out on gay aps trolling for men. They’re shocked by this. Even Rachel Maddow - who is awesome, but (I would argue) probably knows less about male sexuality than I do - was surprised.
For fuck’s sake, people. OF COURSE HE DID.
That is literally the only reason anyone picks up an AR-15 (Even though they’re on the FBI’s terrorist watch list) and shoots 103 happy and mostly gay people whose only sin is that they’re dancing together.
This isn’t about fucking ISIS. This isn’t about fucking Sharia law.
This is about some sad, repressed motherfucker who just wanted to kiss a dude, but was so terrified of that urge that he could only let it out through violence.
ISIS has not stepped up their war on America.
Muslims are not your enemy.
The news is selling you terrorism, because it’s good for revenue.
The NRA is selling you terrorism, because it’s good for revenue.
Politicians are selling you terrorism because it’s good for lobbyists, and, thus, good for revenue.
You know what’s BAD for revenue? Looking into the camera and telling people that the root cause of homophobia is self-loathing. That doesn’t bring in the bucks, because you’re telling most of your viewers that which they already know, and the rest of your viewers that which they cannot stand to hear under any circumstances. Easier and more profitable to just scare them with the Boogie Man.
This is about a sad, repressed dude who just wanted to kiss another dude, and his stupid goddam religion told him that that wasn’t natural. (And if YOUR goddam religion tells you it’s not natural to want to kiss a dude, then your religion is every bit as fucked as his.)
Chill out.
Kiss a dude.
Or don’t.
Nobody gives a shit. Walk on.”
romaincrisis
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