In the film V For Vendetta there is a scene (informally called "Valerie's Letter" if you search for it on YouTube) with an eerily realistic and plausible scenario of what could happen to gays and lesbians in the not too distant feature (see here) if the haters have their way. The first time I saw this in the theater I cried so hard my friend asked me what was wrong, but I couldn't tell her...
At the risk of sounding extreme (because I'm hopeful for our society someday soon advocating a lot more zen in our fevered and frenzied political climate) I fear for the future for gays and lesbians. With blindly hating anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family and our own Democratic president back-pedaling on gay rights (the very issues he promised to help with during his campaign he's either neglected or turned 180 on) I worry that things are only going to get more grim.
More and more people seem to be speaking out against gays and lesbians and those who defend (whether straight or not) the rights of gays and lesbians continue to be portrayed as "promoting homosexuality"...as if homosexuality is a disease of uncontrollable sexual activity and not just a small part of who someone is...as if being gay or lesbian isn't about so much more than sex...like wanting to find that special person and to fall in love and grow old with her and do plenty of other things besides sex.
Whenever I feel like crying (when my parents go on about how sick being gay is or the world itself is one huge hateful place) I go to "my quiet place." It's an "inside my mind" place where my views won't disturb anyone else because I keep them to myself (except here)...it's a place where I'm lucky enough to have someone who loves me back and in the general scheme of things no one cares whether we're straight or gay, human or alien...it's a place free of hate and open to possibilities for a real life free of being scared and alone...it's my place, my cone of silence, my fantasy land.
I guess I'm back in soapbox mode because it's the day before Election Day and it's looking more and more like the Republicans are going to sweep through it all and take over Congress...which to me means yikes!!!!
If Republicans take over health care, social security and social issues will take a huge turn for the worse...with the horrifying possibility (if some political figures and leaders of anti-gay groups have their way) that in some states homosexuality will be made a crime. A crime!!! Think I'm exaggerating or kidding? This is just one of many stories of what some far right conservatives would like to see happen.
The thought of that happening makes me so sad and sick I feel like I'm going to throw up...it makes me overwhelmingly sad and if that happens I hope there are good people around to fight the good fight!!!I don't want to live in a country where love can get you thrown in jail. Obama (whom I voted for and generally like otherwise) certainly hasn't shown that he would fight any legislation like that and also...how would the law handle people who loved with their hearts and souls, but not their bodies???
Would you have to be "caught in the act" to get arrested? Or could something as private as emotions get you in trouble? What would happen to gay and lesbian fiction ? (this may sound melodramatic but novels like the above Annie on My Mind have the power to reach gay and lesbian youth who have nowhere else to turn) Will the day come that our minds can be read? When hate crimes rise more than ever and go unpunished? I am so sad and afraid inside..and I would love to ask the haters: don't you think if gays and lesbians (facing all the hate and possible violence that life can sometimes throw their way) could they would change?
Of course, being forced (sometimes through "ex gay treatments" as horrific as electric shock therapy) to do something you can't when all you really wanted in the first place was the right to love someone else...that sounds like the real crime to me.
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