Being Thankful in a World of Hate

Sometimes I'm in awe of the fact I have actually live this long. I'm fairly certain there are those I know who feel the same because, let's face it, I shouldn't be here. I've pushed the limits on pretty much everything life has to offer, some legal, others not so much. I do know this: Had I been among the early settlers in America I would have been hung or kicked out of anywhere I ended up. 

Which is a lot like the world I'm living in today. Honestly, a lot of problems that have plagued me could have been cut off before they began if I'd only been as honest as I wanted to be way back when. Once upon a time I asked someone to marry me, the reasons surrounding the marriage aren't important, not anymore, but I was determined to tell this person the truth about my life before we actually agreed to be married. I started to, but she refused to hear anything, saying 'God didn't care, neither did she'...Which sounds good in theory but in reality it's asking for nothing but problems on down the line...And there were plenty of those.

Those who are a part of the GLBTQ Community know what it's like to hide, to pretend to be 'Normal' because the straight world has been given permission to attack gay people with any and every ugly word they can think of. They have disowned their children because of being gay, some have lost their lives because their existence somehow brings out intense hatred from others, and many have withdrawn from humanity because the hatred out there is more than any individual should have to endure.

I could give a list of things I've lost because of my life choices but there have been others who have a lost a great more than I every have...And in the end I've found friends who have accepted me for who I am, for the person that makes me who I am. They are the reason I not only continue to live, to fight for the rights of those unable to fight for themselves...No matter what anyone tells you, you are exactly the person you are suppose to be and you should never be ashamed, you should never have to fear anything because you aren't a part of the mainstream...You are so much more. History has shown that we have always been a part of this world, we have often been persecuted, we have been ostracized by the church and other religions, and guess what?

We haven't gone away.

Religions will come and go, they always have, and wars will always be fought over whose 'God' is the right 'God', and while their temples fall and their once cherished 'Faith' has become footnotes in books on mythology, we continue. 

I have hope for the future of humanity, a future where it doesn't matter how you see yourself sexually, a future where your heart and mind are what matters. Your love toward humanity, your gifts given to make us a better society, your continual stand against the bigotry of small minded people and your being there for those who are just discovering themselves...This is what gives me hope.

Every day we see bad news, horrible accounts of humanity against humanity, and it is hard to think we will ever be able to walk down the street being exactly as we were made, as we were meant to be...But that time will come. It will happen. Like everyone else, I'd love to be there when it does but my being witness to it won't change the fact that I have not hidden, I have not run away, I have not quit fighting for a world where equality means exactly that: Every individual has the right accorded to the person next to them, regardless of gender, faith, skin color or anything else. 

You are human. 

And you are loved.

  Be proud.