Everyday drama with homophobes
There's 2 guys that stand on the intersection of Fort St. and Hotel St. and they have 2 great, big signs that reads "Love Jesus, HATE SIN" and then another that has a whole entire fucking list of people who are going to hell for who they are and for what they do. Obviously, "homosexuals" are on that list. Every time I see that sign, my stomach drops and I want to cry and curl into a little ball because it hurts so bad. I can feel the hate, the pure absolute loathing of who I am as a person from these two people and it makes me sick to my stomach. I've staged little protests to their bigotry, like holding my friend's hand, or kissing her on the lips in front of them or being extra lovey-dovey with my friend that I'm walking with so that I can make those bastards feel uncomfortable. And it's so funny because when I do those little things, those two men go OFF. I mean, they lose their collective shit. They start yelling about sinners and redemption and all the bullshit that their hateful little minds can think up. So lately, instead of being passive in my protests to their cruelty, I've really started fucking with them. I walk up to them, and very calmly start chanting "Queer Power". The first time I did that, the one man got very angry and started shouting about how I'm going to hell and how I "have the power of the devil" in me. I laughed it off even though I was shaking like a leaf in a tornado. The second time, I looked him straight in the eye and started chanting again. He told me that "you make god angry when you say that." All I said was "Good." Then the second man tried to talk over me, and then he gave up trying to talk to me and tried to convince the people around me and him that I'm going to hell for loving girls. He started screaming and then I started yelling. I refused to back down, and when he started to truly scream, I let my lungs loose too. "QUEER POWER" "QUEER POWER" "QUEER POWER" "QUEER POWER" over and over and over again. He tried to hand me flyers and I kept my fist raised high in the air and kept looking him dead in the eye. When the light turned green, I walked away and he was still yelling so I turned back one last time and screamed as loudly as I could "Queer Power!" As I walked away, I almost threw up in my mouth from all the anxiety that these men give me. I know that I will never truly be accepted in society, and neither will my friends. At least not in my lifetime. But if my little protests can show people that there can be a better world, I will do that. I will not stop screaming about my love, my rights and my demand to be seen as human.
