I wrote this a few months ago for A World of Progress.  I read it again today and I think today, National Coming Out Day, is a great day to share it here. I will return to my regularly scheduled indeterminate  hiatus after this message.

As we meet secretly in our covens of queeriosity, plotting the ultimate demise of the American way, I thought it only fair we provide fair warning. As we decide how we will damage future generations of children making books like Heather Has Two Mommies available, we are needling our way into every facet of American life, determined to crush not only every religious institution known to man, but also banish forever wearing white shoes after Labor Day and Crocs as a positive fashion choice. It’s known by many that we have set up recruiting stations alongside the fall school registration table at all the local elementary schools, but our plan is much grander. I mean our agenda has been alluded to by the “other side” and yes, it’s true, we have one.

And this is it:

People like Matthew Shepard will never again be beaten and tied to a fence in the Wyoming countryside and left to die alone.

People like Brandon Teena will never again be raped and later gunned down.

Children like Carl Walker-Hoover will never again take their own life because they were thought to be gay and continually hazed, while the schools and bully parents did nothing to stop it.

People like Jamie Durrant will never again have to be harassed at work because they are gay.

People like Gwen Araujo will not be murdered and dumped in the woods. Murderers will receive sentences commensurate with the crime of murder and “gay panic” will never again be a defense.

Beyond the over-the-top haters like Fred Phelps and his ilk, that no one has to be harassed by anyone acting in the name of religion. Did I mention religion? Or even religion? It’s everywhere. In fact, I don’t have enough time to link them all.

People like Larry King will be able to go to school and not have his brains blown out by a cowardly boy who had to learn from somewhere that Larry was a threat just because he was gay.

People like Ginny Maziarka will not be allowed to hide behind a cloak of good citizenship while insidiously plotting to have all materials of relevance to GLBT youth removed or effectively removed from bookshelves at the public library.

Entire waves of gay youth will not feel the need to flee their hometowns and families often ending up homeless because they are thrown out, cast aside, or shunned because they are who they are.

People like John Paulk won’t have to be ex-gay, because they aren’t.

People like Sally Kern will be able to say whatever she wants behind closed doors, but she won’t be in a place of power to wield any influence.

Entire organizations won’t spend so much time worrying about what I do in my bedroom and with my family and will attend to their own. Because, you know what? Ten percent of their children will be gay too. Those kids will need someone on their side. It would be nice if it was their own parents.

People like the 18,000 gays and lesbians who married in California in the few short months it was legal will never again have to worry that their unions will be invalidated.

Gay men and women will never again have to live a lie and can be who they are and avoid the damage it causes their spouses and children.

DOMA, DADT, and every other piece of law, legislation, or decision will stop being separate and unequal.

All of us throughout the entire United States, by virtue of the right to equal protection granted us as citizens will no longer need to use different names for our unions, they will be recognized on par with straight unions, will be able to serve openly alongside our straight servicemember counterparts, have the same protections, rights and responsibilities as someone born with an opposite-sex attraction, those who commit crimes against us will be held to the same standard of justice, and eventually – and I believe that – eventually, those straight people will get that we are no different – if a bit more stylish, trend-setting, and colorful.

Lori Hahn
AWOP GLBTQ Contributing Editor
Author of Hahn at Home Blog

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Middle-Aged Miasma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.