PRIDE

It's Pride month!  This month brings up all of my mixed emotions.  Never before has this month really made me pause and think.  Oh sure, I mean I thought about it - but never this deeply, because it simply was never personal for me before.

My thoughts on Pride month last year: I don't hate anyone, but really stop shoving your agenda and flaunting your sexuality in my face.  If you want to be gay, be gay - it doesn't really affect me.  I actually feel kinda sorry for you, but I can't say that because it's not politically correct.  Also, I think it's wrong, but I'm not one that's going to shove my religious convictions in your face. So, maybe you can stop, too?  Probably not.

My thoughts on Pride month this year:  My best-friend, husband, lover is gay.  Wow!  Suddenly it's personal.  Everywhere I go there are reminders of Pride month - Target, Walmart, Snapchat, Google, Facebook - I can't escape it.  I've read and learned so much in the past year.  And yet, so many of my feelings haven't really changed.  I no longer feel "kinda sorry for you"; I feel deep compassion and sorrow for all of the hurt you have experienced.  I still think it's wrong; but I don't think YOU are wrong and I don't think it's the worst kind of wrong - we are all sinful people, we all struggle in many ways.  I'm still not going to shove my religious convictions in your face.  And you know what?  Go ahead and tell me what you think and how you feel, because I can handle it.

The hardest part is for those in the LGBTQ community that choose to not live the lifestyle but rather choose to honor their religious convictions through celibacy or traditional marriage.  They feel isolated from both the LGBTQ community - often thought of as traitors.  Likewise they feel isolated from their religious community either through condemnation or silence and hiding - often thought of as the worst kind of sinners.  In a day when supposedly we are all free to live as we choose, isn't it interesting that if someone chooses a traditional marriage when their attractions are homosexual they have suddenly become the outcast from every angle?  As my husband has started coming out to people, the first question most people have asked is, "So are you going to stay married?".  It's as if this isn't really an option in most people's minds.  Or like marrying me was an accident.  He knew he was gay when he married me - it was his choice!  These brave men and women, like my husband, should be able to take pride in themselves and the choices they have made in life.  From my point of view, they are the real heroes.  They deserve a parade.  They should be proud.