Man, Friend, Lover, Teacher, Artist, Pedophile

I just got done reading a few articles while I wait for my roommate to get home in a few minutes. One was about all the places in the world where you either go to jail or get executed for being gay. I forget this alot. It is easy for me to get caught up in how hard it was for me growing up and being attracted to men and how it angers and frustrates me that I am not allowed to marry in my own country. However, while both these are important, I don’t have to go to jail or be killed for who I am. I do have to be more careful. If one of my students makes a false accusation about me, who are people going to believe, the kid or faggot teacher? Ain’t gonna be me, and I know that. Still, while there is always the possibility of gay bashing (a group of us got harassed and threatened while we were at a restaurant a few months ago), it is a far cry from sanctioned execution! To a degree, I understand where it comes from. I grew up in the teachings of how and why homosexuality is wrong. When people are raised that way, it is a major change you are asking them to accomplish by rewriting the core of what they have been taught. However, there is a huge difference between being worried about someone’s soul and saying that they are on the same level as a pedophile or that they are on my way there. I don’t know how many politicians and ministers I have heard/read say such evil shit! If there was anything I would never be, it is that. There is nothing even comparable between homosexuality and pedophilia. Nothing makes me so furrious as that comparrison! It is also demeaning (although well intentioned) when people view us as a helpless cause, like the animals left homeless in the wake of Katrina. Thanks for having sympathy, but I am not a lesser, and not a puppy! What will it take for this transformation? Who will be our Martin Luther King (hopefully without the assassination)? Who of us will stand and be honorable and not degrade ourselves by tormenting the protestors who scream at us at our PRIDE parades (not that I really love the PRIDE parades myself)? Who will speak out in strength, pacifism, determination, and declaration? Who of us will truly demand equal rights? Who of us will help stop the murder and imprisonment of our brothers and sisters who did not have the luxury to be born where they can at least live free? How does one even begin to start on that path? How does one truly change the world’s situation? How do we earn the right to be heard and have our words taken into account? How do we destroy the fear and hate? How do I?