Intolerance and Freedom
By Rayne Moonwalker
I did not choose ridicule. I did not choose to be feared. I did not choose my feelings. I did not choose what I come to find attractive. I did not choose to be bisexual.
I did choose to hide it. I did choose to push it to the back of my mind and convince myself I was being tempted by the Devil. I did choose to live my life denying who I was. I did choose to burden myself with overwhelming guilt. I did choose to put the gun in my mouth. I did choose the scars on my arms. I also choose not to run away from who I am anymore just to make other people comfortable. I choose to be free. I choose to loosen the chains of society in which I hold no faith. I choose to point out the hypocritical and closed-minded of an intolerant country.
I remember sitting in class listening to a group of kids make fun of Student X, saying they were going to kick his ass because they thought he was a queer. This person did nothing wrong, he did nothing to invoke such hatred in another person that they would want to hurt him. He was simply effeminate, didn't fit into gender roles we, as a culture, force upon our children. This boy's life was doomed to be a viscious cycle of hate, depression and self-loathing because other people weren't comfortable with his sexual orientation. The kids in that class never saw him as a person; children are not born with intolerance, it is learned.
Our country sends mixed signals. We try to promote acceptance and tolerance of everyone, celebrate diversity. We try to fool the world by saying we're a free society. However, until lawmakers open their minds and close their bibles, this will never be a free society. They are basing their judgements of morality on a book, and as we have seen in other countries, religion is harmful because it blinds and oppresses those who do not believe in it's dogma and doctrine. I am not a christian, therefore I am not free. This may seem like an outrageous and ridiculous statement to some, but it is the truth and everyone knows it whether they want to admit it or not. I am looked at with contempt because I do not conform, I do not care about traditions and standards, I support homosexual rights. I will not become a version of what is expected and sacrifice myself in the process.
Do not be fooled, folks. Freedom comes at a hefty price. When you are different from most everyone else, you have to fight even harder to have your voice heard. Why are homosexuals feared? Yes, I said feared, and what people fear, they try to destroy. Why are homosexuals treated with such intolerance? Why can't homosexuals marry? It all comes down from a book written thousands of years ago in a primitive society called the Holy Bible. This book is filled with sordid tales of slavery, incest, rape, genocide, infanticide, adultery, domestic abuse, oppression and murder. According to this book, you can have a slave, you can beat your wife into submission, you can rape virgins, but you cannot be gay. You can hate your parents, but you cannot love someone the same sex as you. This god promotes hate for anyone who is not like he, a god who would send his children to hell simply for disagreeing with him, and a god whom we are allowing to influence the laws of this country. He is not THE god for most of us. Why should we give into your delusions and buy into your lies? Plain and simple, it is the person inside the body that matters, not the body itself.
Foolish is the man who passes laws influenced by religion. It's been proven more harmful than helpful. When religion influences law, we are not observing the freedom for which our ancestors died; we are taking away the rights given to each American: the freedom of speech, the freedom to practice your religion, the freedom to believe as you wish, the freedom to simply be free. This country was not founded on religion, please stop making that assumption. This country was founded on the simple fact that everyone was created equal. Everyone, men, women, black, white, red, blue or green. This is not interpreted to mean that only white christian men and women are free. Everyone means everyone, even homosexuals. They have the right, as human beings, to love who they want, and should have the right as Americans to marry and receive the same benefits as heterosexuals. Our country, with it's 'civilization' and technological advances, has evolved to the point where there should be no need for discrimination, segregation, racism or violation of one's rights.
Banning same sex marriage is the same as banning blacks to the back of the bus.
Banning same sex marriage is the same as segregating blacks to their own schools.
Banning same sex marriage violates one's civil rights and dehumanizes homosexuals.
Segregation has been proven a failure. Being black one hundred years ago was, all in all, considered immoral. Blacks were not considered to be human. They can no more be blamed for how they were born than homosexuals. It is NOT a choice. Now, in the day and age of logic and reason, it has become not about the color of your skin but about sex behind closed doors. What business is it of anyone what happens between two consenting adults?
It is human nature to destroy what it does not understand, what it fears. How many innocent people have lost their lives because they were proud of their sexual orientation? The next time you feel that hate rising from the back of your heart into your throat at the mention of homosexuality, perhaps you should ask yourself why. Why do you hate gays? Have they done anything to you, or is it based on the fact that they're different from you? Is it because they don't care what a book says, they follow their hearts and love who they want to love no matter the cost? In a society fueled by hate, discrimination, racism, bigotry and religious intolerance, why is love such a bad thing, no matter the source? When did a person's merits get lost in their sexual orientation? Why does it matter who sleeps with whom? The procreation arguement doesn't work anymore. Sex is an expression of love and it's a beautiful connection between two people. Who are you to take that away from someone who doesn't fit into what your idea of perfection or tradition is, anyway? Why must you make it such a crusade to hate when your bible is supposed to be filled with love? If your faith is based on that message, that you should hate someone different from you, then it is you that we need protection from. The fault lies in your mind and your bible, not the sexual relationships of another human being. Homosexuals are not stupid, not alien and not different. They feel the same emotions as heterosexuals, they bleed the same blood. Worry about your own rights, your own mind and beliefs.
If you are free to believe anyway you want, then I should be free to sleep with whomever I want. I should not have to ask your permission to live my life as I see fit just because you believe in a barbaric and oppressive religion. Religion has no place in politics, and if we are going to bring religion into our laws, then tax the churches. I'm tired of paying taxes for churches in which I hold no faith, and in which try to govern my life to fit their perspectives.
Our freedom is in jeopardy, folks, when laws are based on the supposed morality of the christian faith. It is fine to be christian, it is not a crime to be christian as you obviously make it a crime to be homosexual. Christianity is but one religion with one outlook on life. It is not the truth for everyone, and the government has no business mixing religious dogma into the laws of the land. Your convictions are not the only convictions that matter. Haven't we learned from our dealings with religious dictatorships that it is dangerous, it is oppressive and deadly; it strips away our rights as human beings? you, as an individual, have the right to believe in that book. You, as a person, have a right to practice your religion as you please, but once that belief oppresses others and takes away our rights as human beings, it has compromised our freedom. Who are you to tell me I can't love another simply because they happened to be born with an x or a y chromosome? Isn't love what you've been preaching? Shouldn't love be unconditional?
Intolerance strips us of our freedom. Were the deaths of our ancestors in vain? We will never be free, never prosper, never better ourselves until intolerance is irradicated, discrimination abolished, both racially and sexually, and diversity becomes celebrated rather than promoted in vain. No one should have the right to tell you who you can and cannot love, especially someone else's church and our government. Hate is the bastard child of ignorance. Ignorance breeds intolerance and is a plague that has taken the lives of the innocent. While this letter may not change the minds of the lawmakers, it might just make them think; it might make sense to someone reading this, and they might choose to open their minds and overcome their ignorance and intolerance. Perhaps it will give hope when it is remembered that one should be proud of who they are. It is better to be hated than to be liked for who you're not.
Be proud.
Be free.
By Rayne Moonwalker
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I did choose to hide it. I did choose to push it to the back of my mind and convince myself I was being tempted by the Devil. I did choose to live my life denying who I was. I did choose to burden myself with overwhelming guilt. I did choose to put the gun in my mouth. I did choose the scars on my arms. I also choose not to run away from who I am anymore just to make other people comfortable. I choose to be free. I choose to loosen the chains of society in which I hold no faith. I choose to point out the hypocritical and closed-minded of an intolerant country.
I remember sitting in class listening to a group of kids make fun of Student X, saying they were going to kick his ass because they thought he was a queer. This person did nothing wrong, he did nothing to invoke such hatred in another person that they would want to hurt him. He was simply effeminate, didn't fit into gender roles we, as a culture, force upon our children. This boy's life was doomed to be a viscious cycle of hate, depression and self-loathing because other people weren't comfortable with his sexual orientation. The kids in that class never saw him as a person; children are not born with intolerance, it is learned.
Our country sends mixed signals. We try to promote acceptance and tolerance of everyone, celebrate diversity. We try to fool the world by saying we're a free society. However, until lawmakers open their minds and close their bibles, this will never be a free society. They are basing their judgements of morality on a book, and as we have seen in other countries, religion is harmful because it blinds and oppresses those who do not believe in it's dogma and doctrine. I am not a christian, therefore I am not free. This may seem like an outrageous and ridiculous statement to some, but it is the truth and everyone knows it whether they want to admit it or not. I am looked at with contempt because I do not conform, I do not care about traditions and standards, I support homosexual rights. I will not become a version of what is expected and sacrifice myself in the process.
Do not be fooled, folks. Freedom comes at a hefty price. When you are different from most everyone else, you have to fight even harder to have your voice heard. Why are homosexuals feared? Yes, I said feared, and what people fear, they try to destroy. Why are homosexuals treated with such intolerance? Why can't homosexuals marry? It all comes down from a book written thousands of years ago in a primitive society called the Holy Bible. This book is filled with sordid tales of slavery, incest, rape, genocide, infanticide, adultery, domestic abuse, oppression and murder. According to this book, you can have a slave, you can beat your wife into submission, you can rape virgins, but you cannot be gay. You can hate your parents, but you cannot love someone the same sex as you. This god promotes hate for anyone who is not like he, a god who would send his children to hell simply for disagreeing with him, and a god whom we are allowing to influence the laws of this country. He is not THE god for most of us. Why should we give into your delusions and buy into your lies? Plain and simple, it is the person inside the body that matters, not the body itself.
Foolish is the man who passes laws influenced by religion. It's been proven more harmful than helpful. When religion influences law, we are not observing the freedom for which our ancestors died; we are taking away the rights given to each American: the freedom of speech, the freedom to practice your religion, the freedom to believe as you wish, the freedom to simply be free. This country was not founded on religion, please stop making that assumption. This country was founded on the simple fact that everyone was created equal. Everyone, men, women, black, white, red, blue or green. This is not interpreted to mean that only white christian men and women are free. Everyone means everyone, even homosexuals. They have the right, as human beings, to love who they want, and should have the right as Americans to marry and receive the same benefits as heterosexuals. Our country, with it's 'civilization' and technological advances, has evolved to the point where there should be no need for discrimination, segregation, racism or violation of one's rights.
Banning same sex marriage is the same as banning blacks to the back of the bus.
Banning same sex marriage is the same as segregating blacks to their own schools.
Banning same sex marriage violates one's civil rights and dehumanizes homosexuals.
Segregation has been proven a failure. Being black one hundred years ago was, all in all, considered immoral. Blacks were not considered to be human. They can no more be blamed for how they were born than homosexuals. It is NOT a choice. Now, in the day and age of logic and reason, it has become not about the color of your skin but about sex behind closed doors. What business is it of anyone what happens between two consenting adults?
It is human nature to destroy what it does not understand, what it fears. How many innocent people have lost their lives because they were proud of their sexual orientation? The next time you feel that hate rising from the back of your heart into your throat at the mention of homosexuality, perhaps you should ask yourself why. Why do you hate gays? Have they done anything to you, or is it based on the fact that they're different from you? Is it because they don't care what a book says, they follow their hearts and love who they want to love no matter the cost? In a society fueled by hate, discrimination, racism, bigotry and religious intolerance, why is love such a bad thing, no matter the source? When did a person's merits get lost in their sexual orientation? Why does it matter who sleeps with whom? The procreation arguement doesn't work anymore. Sex is an expression of love and it's a beautiful connection between two people. Who are you to take that away from someone who doesn't fit into what your idea of perfection or tradition is, anyway? Why must you make it such a crusade to hate when your bible is supposed to be filled with love? If your faith is based on that message, that you should hate someone different from you, then it is you that we need protection from. The fault lies in your mind and your bible, not the sexual relationships of another human being. Homosexuals are not stupid, not alien and not different. They feel the same emotions as heterosexuals, they bleed the same blood. Worry about your own rights, your own mind and beliefs.
If you are free to believe anyway you want, then I should be free to sleep with whomever I want. I should not have to ask your permission to live my life as I see fit just because you believe in a barbaric and oppressive religion. Religion has no place in politics, and if we are going to bring religion into our laws, then tax the churches. I'm tired of paying taxes for churches in which I hold no faith, and in which try to govern my life to fit their perspectives.
Our freedom is in jeopardy, folks, when laws are based on the supposed morality of the christian faith. It is fine to be christian, it is not a crime to be christian as you obviously make it a crime to be homosexual. Christianity is but one religion with one outlook on life. It is not the truth for everyone, and the government has no business mixing religious dogma into the laws of the land. Your convictions are not the only convictions that matter. Haven't we learned from our dealings with religious dictatorships that it is dangerous, it is oppressive and deadly; it strips away our rights as human beings? you, as an individual, have the right to believe in that book. You, as a person, have a right to practice your religion as you please, but once that belief oppresses others and takes away our rights as human beings, it has compromised our freedom. Who are you to tell me I can't love another simply because they happened to be born with an x or a y chromosome? Isn't love what you've been preaching? Shouldn't love be unconditional?
Intolerance strips us of our freedom. Were the deaths of our ancestors in vain? We will never be free, never prosper, never better ourselves until intolerance is irradicated, discrimination abolished, both racially and sexually, and diversity becomes celebrated rather than promoted in vain. No one should have the right to tell you who you can and cannot love, especially someone else's church and our government. Hate is the bastard child of ignorance. Ignorance breeds intolerance and is a plague that has taken the lives of the innocent. While this letter may not change the minds of the lawmakers, it might just make them think; it might make sense to someone reading this, and they might choose to open their minds and overcome their ignorance and intolerance. Perhaps it will give hope when it is remembered that one should be proud of who they are. It is better to be hated than to be liked for who you're not.
Be proud.
Be free.
May 25, 2003