In the wake of my mom dealing with illness she's been trying to convince me to tell my extended family that im Muslim For example, they know i went to Germany for two weeks but they don't know it was for the Muslim jewish conference I've spent the better portion of my adolescent and adult life either lying or omitting aspects of my life I don't feel like they have the acumen to handle. In coming out as queer ten years ago (not by my own choice but because of an emotionally manipulative partner) I realized how incapable they are of not being judgmental and keeping their colorful comments to myself. And my mom knows this She was there when my cousin in law Darnell said I should slowly introduce the fact that my audre lorde tattoo is of a lesbian woman and just not come out and say it. Which is beyond illogical and quite frankly dumb as fuck So I don't understand the impulse to tell my extended family members, the 'I'm a hardcore Christian that never reads the bible', U.S. Imperialism in the Middle East is justified, family members that I'm a Muslim. That I'm a Muslim and I'm still queer, that my queerness didn't dissolve like the wicked witch in the oz just because faith became more personal to my life. My extended family members avoid complexity and nuance like the plague And my life is composed of it
