Yoinked from Isaac, to whom I send wishes of a happy new year...

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman. Is is not their right to not hire a person? Free markets dictate that we allow hiring practices set by companies, not states. It sucks, but it is. And, is it not written that it is better to be a prostitute who loves the Lord than a Pharisee?

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights. Then the angels will rejoice for you, and guide you both.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time. Like countless other parents who lost their sons and daughters to disease, suicide, famine, murder, accidents, poverty, and the ravages of war.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room. Is it possible for a person to die alone?

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me. Then join a lobbying group and change the law. Family law is screwed up on many levels, and if you think that stright couples have it any easier, you're dreaming. They probably wouldn't ba able to adopt you because of your crack addict, abusive, etc... mother anyway.

I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again. Just as soldiers who defend their homes, policemen, firemen, and countless others would be lucky to have that fate.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear. Nobody kills themselves because they are gay. They might kill themelves because they are emotionally damaged, but being gay does not mean you have a broken soul, so while I'll pray for your soul and commend you to Judas Iscariot, don't give me "homophobia killed me."

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men. In certain states that would be her legal obligation. It is again her right to do that. I suggest going to another realtor, one who likes doing actual business with people.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me. I have no way to respond to that, other than with the gender absolutes thing.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman. See the kid in DSS custody. Imagine all the fathers who lose their kids to unfit mothers purely because she is the mother, then tell me you have an automatic legal right to your kids.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman. Cold and distant...either they are the police, or they are therapists. The police are supposed to be cold and distant, and therapists are a dime a dozen.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male. That's not actually true. I know of several national organizations who have violence against men as their focus. The fact that you have to look to find one is not something I have sympathy for.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men. Then you are a fucking pigheaded asshole who doesn't diserve the gift of reproduction.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that. So teach gym anyway. Nobody is stopping you that I know of.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual. I rather doubt it.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn't have to always deal with society hating me. Oh no. It doesn't work like that. "Society hates me, so I get to be a bad person." Trust me, I tried that. I really did. It's bullshit, and if you can't get past it you will have a hard, lonely, and miserable life, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind. If you believed, you would know that you have but one kind. You are a soul, and there is nothing beyond that. You would also know that churches (or the Church) are not Christ, and that it is better to suffer for worship than to apostize.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love. You do not need to hide it. Would you rather live without it than die, if that was the choice? Are we not all called to the vocation of love? Do you think you are exempt for some reason?

*Repost this in your journal if you believe homophobia is wrong.* Better yet, why not just spread vicious lies? Or whine, that's popular.