A friend shared
this note on Facebook today that really drove home the emotional impact this political and religious issue has on a gay individual. Isaac Higham describes how the conflict of being gay and Mormon drove him to attempt suicide. Unfortunately, his case is not isolated, and many others succeed in their suicide attempts. His essay brought tears to my eyes and is
well worth reading in its entirety. An excerpt:
When I was a little boy, my beautiful mother would take me in her arms and together we would sing the words of the LDS primary song:
I am a Child of God
And he has sent me here
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear.
There was no qualifier of “unless I grow up to be gay.”
.....
When the stripping of legal status and protections from gay relationships is celebrated like a Super Bowl victory, what does the gay person feel? When a state senator tells gay adolescents they shouldn’t come together to talk about their struggles in accepting their sexuality, what message does that send? When a bishop stands at the pulpit and preaches that loving committed gay relationships will destroy their family and asks for time and money to ‘defeat’ them, what unimaginable fear shakes the soul of the gay child in the pews?
When will we learn that this is not a game?... This is a fight for life!
Well said, Isaac. Keep fighting the good fight.
I Am a Child of God... Unless I'm gay
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This is the first time I've actually regretted not joining facebook. I'm irrationally stubborn though, so is there any chance you could mirror the whole essay somewhere? The piece you posted is very good.
ReplyDeleteLove your pet peeve by the way. Mine is the 'they're their there' confusion. Except when it's the 'to too' one.
Exactly. This is not a game, not since religious fanaticism and bigotry invaded politics and became the animating spirit of the political right.
ReplyDeleteThe goal is to achieve a feeling holiness by excluding and humiliating the ungodly "pervert", the new Untermensch.
That mentality reaches its natural culmination in the platforms of the Texas and Montana Republican party, declaring that homosexuality itself must become a criminal offense again.
No, it's not a game. Things like health-insurance reform or tax policy are issues people can politely disagree about. What they're doing now is different. This is all-out war.
Thanks so much for posting this! It should be spread far and wide.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've actually regretted not joining facebook. I'm irrationally stubborn though, so is there any chance you could mirror the whole essay somewhere? The piece you posted is very good.
ReplyDeleteLove your pet peeve by the way. Mine is the 'they're their there' confusion. Except when it's the 'to too' one.