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Real Love Someday Soon
Jun. 9th, 2005 11:55 pmAfter reading Eric (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ericdabear) and John's (jkusters) links to the protests against Love In Action, and Ex-Gay center in Memphis, I have to say I'm encouraged for the next generation. It's great to see how supportive kids are today of their friends, and how for todays youth, it really is more acceptable to be gay.
The protest was spurred on by a blog of a young teen who journaled that he had come out to his parents, and found his parents love wasn't so unconditional after all.
Not that it's easy for every kid, heck, the kid that inspired the protest in now in a Ex-gay reprogramming center because of his parents and the crap that they've learned over years. Their misguided love will end up hurting their more than they'll ever know, but they hope to give him a "normal' life, all because they've been forced into a narrow view of what's normal and acceptable. If there's anything that the last 50-60 years of history have taught us, there's very little that can be considered normal here.
I don't know what it's like having the coming out process at that time in my life. Heck, the first steps were several years into college, and some of the biggest, like coming out to my parents, happened just a couple of years ago. Luckily i didn't really fear being placed in a reprogramming center. Did they have them in the early 80's? I guess so. Still, I was disappointed in myself, because I thought what i was was wrong, and telling my friends, and my parents would only make their disappointment in me grow. They might disown me, and that's something I really didn't want.
I wish I could have been more of myself then, but luckily I can make up for it now. Luckily many more kids can come out these days. Again, it's not all unicorns and rainbows, there will always be assholes an bullies and fundies and idiot parents trying to push things back into the middle ages.
I've said it before, and will say it again, there's a big push by people of that narrow persuasion who are trying to make a last ditch effort to tamp down certain freedoms and acts that they are against before the younger generations will just let it pass. That's why you have Pope Benedict 16 going on about the evils about sex of any kind - shacking up, whatever that isn't moving towards procreation, to try to bring back a morality who's time has just about past, and with his generation moving on, it will fade off into the sunset.
It's already been proven that the Gen X and Gen Y groups, those that were born around and after Stonewall are more gay-away, accepting and friendly, and it scares the older generations. They have grown up with it, and it's in their media, with portrayals of gay folk on MTV and in books, movies and music. To stop this, Older generations still use old rhetoric and push old ideals to try to demonize and change , and when that fails, they work to stop progress through passage of laws and amendments.
One day, this will all pass. I'm optimistic about it, but sadly for now, kids like the one in Memphis will have to go through a lot of pain, just like many others have done before him. Perhaps one day kids like him will just grow p where all kids are normal.
ericdabear) and John's (jkusters) links to the protests against Love In Action, and Ex-Gay center in Memphis, I have to say I'm encouraged for the next generation. It's great to see how supportive kids are today of their friends, and how for todays youth, it really is more acceptable to be gay. The protest was spurred on by a blog of a young teen who journaled that he had come out to his parents, and found his parents love wasn't so unconditional after all.
Not that it's easy for every kid, heck, the kid that inspired the protest in now in a Ex-gay reprogramming center because of his parents and the crap that they've learned over years. Their misguided love will end up hurting their more than they'll ever know, but they hope to give him a "normal' life, all because they've been forced into a narrow view of what's normal and acceptable. If there's anything that the last 50-60 years of history have taught us, there's very little that can be considered normal here.
I don't know what it's like having the coming out process at that time in my life. Heck, the first steps were several years into college, and some of the biggest, like coming out to my parents, happened just a couple of years ago. Luckily i didn't really fear being placed in a reprogramming center. Did they have them in the early 80's? I guess so. Still, I was disappointed in myself, because I thought what i was was wrong, and telling my friends, and my parents would only make their disappointment in me grow. They might disown me, and that's something I really didn't want.
I wish I could have been more of myself then, but luckily I can make up for it now. Luckily many more kids can come out these days. Again, it's not all unicorns and rainbows, there will always be assholes an bullies and fundies and idiot parents trying to push things back into the middle ages.
I've said it before, and will say it again, there's a big push by people of that narrow persuasion who are trying to make a last ditch effort to tamp down certain freedoms and acts that they are against before the younger generations will just let it pass. That's why you have Pope Benedict 16 going on about the evils about sex of any kind - shacking up, whatever that isn't moving towards procreation, to try to bring back a morality who's time has just about past, and with his generation moving on, it will fade off into the sunset.
It's already been proven that the Gen X and Gen Y groups, those that were born around and after Stonewall are more gay-away, accepting and friendly, and it scares the older generations. They have grown up with it, and it's in their media, with portrayals of gay folk on MTV and in books, movies and music. To stop this, Older generations still use old rhetoric and push old ideals to try to demonize and change , and when that fails, they work to stop progress through passage of laws and amendments.
One day, this will all pass. I'm optimistic about it, but sadly for now, kids like the one in Memphis will have to go through a lot of pain, just like many others have done before him. Perhaps one day kids like him will just grow p where all kids are normal.
