Human beings do not like to be labeled, but we are. Labels, classifications, characteristics, contents all reveal who we are. I am a male descended from Norman English and Scottish Gaelic with a dash of Native American, Hun, and some I may not know about. I am an American born in Mississippi weighing 11 lbs. From an early age, my sexual orientation is same sex. These labels are permanent. I did not choose them. I was born that way.
I am bald, I have rosacea, and I am tall. These are characteristics that I inherited from my ancestors. I battle depression and anxiety. Many thanks, ancestors for not giving me a choice.
I am obese, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, acid reflux, and sleep apnea. I have a college graduate degree in theology and religion and undergraduate degrees in business and accounting. I have been a pastor and an accountant in my professional life but now I am retired. I have had some tough times and good times in my sixty four years. Most of those experiences are due to the choices I have made.
Many people I know believe that same sex sexual orientation equals gay equals pedophile. A person with a same sex orientation is not a pedophile. We find that disgusting, abusive, and abhorrent. We have no desire to harm, hurt, abuse, or rape any child. Same sex sexual orientation does not equal what some call "the gay lifestyle" or "gay agenda". There are those with same sex sexual orientation and opposite sex sexual orientation who have sex with multiple partners even if they don't know that person. Some who are married (same sex and opposite sex) have "affairs". There are aberrations in all sexual orientations. There are swingers, sadist-masochists, role players, and "sodomites" in all sexual orientations.
A same sex sexual orientation person desires to live a normal life free of discrimination, scorn, ridicule, physical abuse and verbal abuse. Same sex sexual orientation persons are productive, tax paying citizens who desire to have the same rights and privileges as opposite sex sexual orientation persons have. We want to hold hands in public, have pictures of our spouse and children on our desk at work and share our stories, pictures, and events with others without fear of being fired, scorned, bullied, ridiculed or abused.
We are educators, doctors, lawyers, politicians, clergy, mechanics, truck drivers, retail managers, nurses, retail clerks, government employees. You may recognize some of us by our names: Representative Jared Polis, D-Colorado, Senator Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, Anderson Cooper, Ellen DeGeneres, Dan Savage, George Takei, and Neil Patrick Harris. We are sons and daughters of famous parents: Mary Cheney (Dick Cheney), Will Portman (Sen. Rob Portman, Ohio), and Earvin Johnson III (son of Magic Johnson). We have been around for a long time, here are some names from the past: Rock Hudson, Walt Whitman, Cole Porter, Tennessee Williams, Herman Melville, John Maynard Keynes (famous economist), and Edward II (English King).
We are religious. Some of us are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and some are not religious. Many of us have chosen to be who we are over what we have been taught. We have asked God to remove this from us. We know well the condemnation and scorn of religion for we have been killed, beaten, called names, excluded from churches because we are called an "Abomination". We understand that many believe who we are is a sin or that we are second class citizens in the sense that we are like this as a result of the sinful nature of humanity. We have found hope and faith in God despite those who say we cannot. Some of us have become pagan, wiccan, or atheist because we have been rejected by those who claim to love God and love others.
We are not interested in destroying families and marriage. It appears that has happened even before we came out of the closet. We love our families but we have discovered that family not only denotes blood kin for it can be those who find the acceptance and love as non blood related family unit. We honor marriage, commitment, loyalty, honesty, and crave love and acceptance like all humanity.
Having same sex sexual orientation does not mean we are sexually active. We may find same sex persons attractive. We may associate with others like us. We may even have roommates who share our same orientation. We have friends who are not sexual partners. We are modest. We don't wish to push or demand acceptance because we are "gay". We want to live and be who we are.
So if I have to wear a label, I wear it proudly.
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