The loud few

Dear friends,

I have a very cool thing to write this week. I know I don't update all that often, and I don't talk too much about serious things, but I have been touched and thankful for something a friend of mine did the other day. Let me preface by clarifying this friend is straight, a sorority sister, and straight...oh yeah, did I mention she is super straight? It's true.

Well, regardless, she has been embroiled in a facebook discussion with one of her old "friends" from high school. This "friend", as she puts it and I will now refer to a Jaqueline Dumas, is mad about the Harvey Milk Day bill that was just approved by the conservative Republican Governor of California. This day would be recognized as a special day (kids would still have to be at school) but the day would be recognized in California just like Martin Luther King Jr. & Cesar Chavez Day. Well, not officially, as those days the student have off from school, but I digress.

Anyway, the girl (Dumas) posted some jargon about how California is disappointing her for dedicating a day to a child molester, gay man, and felon. Then, she went on to post an article from a super-duper right wing faction newspaper and their fake journalist about how we are all going to burn in hell for the political decisions that we have made. My friend questioned her allegations and was told that Dumas got all her source material from Google. My friend, the paralegal, got her information from a little different source that wasn't WhiteJesuswiki and set the record straight on Harvey Milk.

This is where it gets fun. Another "friend" of the "friend", whom I shall refer to a Tweedle DUMB decided to respond to my friends post. She proceeded to tell my friend that she knows where her heart is and knows that those who wish to join the kingdom of heaven (probably doesn't have beer or wine there) would have to set the record straight with their Lord and Saviour. My friend responded with a retort about how she was thankful she was being told she was going to hell for supporting Harvey Milk Day. The girl denied saying anything about hell and.....well, you know how the rest of this goes. Being gay is a choice, being gay is against the Lord's will, gays are evil, being gay is like Saved by the Bell: The New Class, etc, etc, blah blah, blah blah

Here is where I respond with some thoughts.

1. I love my friend. I think the hardest thing about being a friend to gay people is having to finally open your eyes and ears to the idiots in the world. I have been hearing nothing but crap like this for years. I am used to it. When it starts to annoy my uber straight friends, watch out world, we are coming to get you.

You f**ked with the wrong straighty.

2. I am thankful for those people who stand up for the gays. We get tired. I have a special gay de-stresser mantra I go through when I get annoyed or saddened by the inaccuracies that are put out there. I usually put on some Glee or NCIS and say, 'stupid people get in the way of my tv time....stupid people get in the way of my tv time.....'

3. Do we delete these people? I don't know.

4. In all seriousness, I am thankful for all the people out there who are having these discussions and actually standing up to the idiots who use facebook as a political forum for straight, white, heterosexual "justice." It needs to be done. By not saying anything because we confirm these viewpoints to be "idiotic," we essentially allow them to continue. Plus, gay people are tired of fighting alone. I had to delete all the people that were driving me nuts during Prop 8 because I felt overwhelmed by the "Yes on 8" stuff. It made me sad. I got tired and frustrated. Some people don't realize how much we see all this kind of stuff. It is everywhere. It's with a small "It's so gay" on the bus. It's with a loud "faggot" being spoken at a football or softball game. It's with these things being said and no one saying anything except the gays. Here are the truths...

Gay Truths
1. Gays get sad.
2. Gays get overwhelmed.
3. Gays get tired.
4. Gays need help.
5. Gays love parades about as much as the Irish.
6. Gays hear negative stuff every single day.

So, when one of my friends does even the slightest thing like this, it keeps me motivated. It keeps me going. It gives me just a little more energy to tell the kid on the bus to stop saying those words. It gives me a little more energy to speak up again. When this kind of stuff happens, it makes me less of an exhausted gay. I am thankful for these little moments, because they are few-and-far-between the rest of the other moments...

So thank you straight friends. Thank you for declaring your support on Facebook, myspace, twitter, the blogs, and in person. Thank you. You just gave me hope again for a more positive future.

Stacy