I’m not a hater.
The world is an amazing great place where people are diverse, spectacular and enriched by our differences. Or at least, in MY world that’s the way it rolls. I was raised by phenomenal parents, and my early childhood was spent in an area that was diverse, accepting and no one was expected to force themselves to fit in some pigeon hole society had created.
Or at least, that was my perception of it.
I have had so many tremendously fabulous people in my life and I have loved them all for the ways that they made me a better person just by being himself or herself. Race, religion, sexual orientation, gender… none of that matters to me. Never has. It’s not relevant. Someone’s character? That’s what shines.
I wondered how I was going to write this post today on Spirit Day. On this day, when we wear purple to support LGBT youth and strive to end bullying of these youth – I didn’t know how or what to say. I have no experience with having been bullied, or having bullied anyone. What could I possibly add to this conversation?
Fortunately, my friend Abby said it way better than I could:
I knew in my head that being gay was something many people struggled with, but I was busy with the whole being a teenage lesbian living in a girls’ dorm thing. So it hasn’t been until the past few years has something really occurred to me. These kids who are bullied or commit suicide? That could so easily have been me.
If I’d gone to a different school, or we lived in a different town, or if any number of tiny circumstances had been slightly different, I might have been one of those kids who grew up thinking that this thing inside of them should be concealed or suppressed or denied. Or killed.
But I got lucky – so extraordinarily lucky – and whatever it is that makes me gay has been allowed to grow and flourish and become an ingrained part of me that is no longer vulnerable. It makes me stronger. It’s something I adore about the hand I’ve been dealt in this life.
So now, I read stories about kids who are driven to suicide over the same piece of themselves that I find so awesome in myself. The notion is completely insane and it outrages me. Do you look in the mirror and find your brown eyes beautiful? Are they one of your favorite facial features? Go look in the newspaper. Kids are killing themselves over their gorgeous brown eyes.
I wear purple today because I support our right – YES, OUR RIGHT – to love and be loved. I wear purple because BULLYING SUCKS. I believe in Spirit Day because I hope that these kids know that there are places to turn right now – right now when there are people so full of hate and cruelty, I hope the LGBT youth know they’re not alone and that there are people who are out there loving them for being who they are.
I wear purple because I want my children to know that having an open heart and loving and embracing our friends for all their many qualities is what makes our lives better. I want my children to not put barriers on their love and friendships. I want acceptance of all people to be the rule and not the exception. And I hope to see it happen, soon.
I hope that by the time my kids are parents, this bullying stuff is another “remember way back when…?” kind of thing, and they too let their kids know that bullying someone for not fitting into some societal pigeon hole is wrong.
I’m not a hater.
Love is louder than hate.
And though I may not be wearing purple every day, my support is always there.
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