Earlier this week, I came across what I believe is the greatest example of philanthropy in recent days. It would probably not be difficult to identify my personal bias, though. Nonetheless, the recently deceased Bea Arthur left $300,000 of her estate to a nonprofit organization in New York City that provides housing for teenagers who are left homeless after coming out to their parents. What a beacon of hope among so much darkness. Bea lived a long life and no doubt saw a much darker day when gays were more persecuted even than today. But that didn't stifle her generosity and her fierce deveotion to what she believed was just. It is so encouraging that there are people in the world with a heart for these children, especially when they are already plagued with an identity that society won't let them come to terms with. Parents and right wing religious zealots who refuse to accept these children for who they are, I can relate only to Hitler's Nazis. When their hatefulness has led a child to suicide as it has in many cases, those "Christians" have this blood on their hands. Shame on those mental abusers who have refused these children a life safe from harm and a world in which to grow and realize their full potentials.
I got a letter from a "family member" of mine that I haven't spoken with in for four years. He's right. His parents certainly did put a roof over my head and feed me. And, no, they were not even my biological parents. It was very kind of them to do what they did. But if they felt that good parenting stops with putting a roof over a child's head and feeding them, I beg to differ. What was I a pet? They had a fucking cockatiel for more than 12 years, which by those standards was living like the Prince of fucking Sheba. Unfortunately, though, as I grew up and was beginning to realize who I was, my "boarders" refused to understand that I had troubles of my own. Don't get me wrong, though. I know now that my sexuality is a gift from God, not a punishment. However, there are lots of children who are not as strong as I was to resist the verbal abuse and threats of hell fire and damnation. Let it not be misunderstood, that I do not have a special place in my heart for those who choose to raise a child that is not their own. However, I feel the system, especially in the great state of Arkansas, has it all wrong when they deny a child to a parent because he/she is gay or unmarried. There should certainly be a box on the adoption form that says "Do you swear to love this child, no matter what, until death do you part? I wasn't the perfect child dropped on the porch by the stork that they had hoped for. In fact, I was a royal pain in the ass. NO PUN INTENDED.
Parents, if you are fortunate enough to have kids, love them for who they are. You didn't get to pick them, but they didn't get to pick you either. Feelings are unontrollable and it is a child's nature to need to be themselves, not mirror images of you. Fortunately, the kind of parents that I had are a dying breed as we slowly become a more tolerant society. President Obama just signed historic legislation this week that will punish any violent offender of another person based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. To that I say, it's about time. I don't expect to live to see it, but I know one day we will view this time as we now view the civil rights struggles of the sixties. Future generations will be ashamed that they are the ancestors of such hate.
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