Dec 06 2008
When Will Gay Be Okay?
In an age when you can see Callie Torres, a character from one of my favorite shows – Grey’s Anatomy, make a female co-worker “see trees” (if only for one episode), one would think that the fear and hysteria related to having a gay person in the family has long since faded. Why do we have such a problem with accepting people where they are? Why must everyone dance to someone else’s drum? In the not too distant past, Californians sent a very clear message with the passing of Proposition 8. It seemed to say that gay people are different and sent a clear refusal to treat them just the same as everyone else. By banning their rights to marry, it would seem that a majority have confirmed that their love is at the very least inappropriate.
Is it any wonder that when a mother recently learned the news that her daughter had a girlfriend, she was overwrought by tears and despair? We are programmed to think that something is wrong with people when love takes them outside of the societal norm. We become anxious and afraid wondering “who else knows this dirty little secret”. We beseech our loved ones to keep it to themselves and tell no one. We stick our head in the sand and pretend that nothing has changed, never realizing that by doing so we have turned out backs on the one we love.
Why is it that we cry out “not my daughter/son?” What is it that we truly fear and will we ever get to a time in life when people can just be who they are and love who they love? Will we ever allow people to love who they love and be afforded the opportunities to celebrate that love in the same ways that heterosexual couples do?
