If I talked of my distress....

I had the opportunity to visit Golden Hall, A.K.A Election central, on election night. For years I have always tried to make it down but for one reason or another I would always get stuck watching on TV. This year I told myself I wanted to be part of history and let nothing stop me. It was cool running into friends, celebrating the huge OBAMA win, and watching the entire logistical set-up...but what left the biggest impression on me was the hate and anger I saw.

Its no secret that I opposed proposition 8. I be live a marriage ban creates a separate but equal system that I can not support. I am privileged that I can marry the person I love and no one will challenge and question it. I believe no one has the right to hurt anyone by denying them this basic right. But what I saw that night brought me back to the years of running camp anytown and camp minitown. I saw the "separation exercise" in real life. On one side of the room people yelled, YES ON 8" on the other side they yelled, "NO ON 8." In diff rent parts of the room stubborn people would be engaged in passionate but stubborn arguments about the bible, god, and sin. I was just waiting for things to escalate to violence....

As I stood on the "balcony" and observed all I could see was hate and ignorance. But what hurt the most was the following exchange...Someone in the crowd yelled out "God Loves all People!" Then someone responded with "Yes he does but he does love people, not things, Gay is a thing." How much more dehumanizing can you get...our society makes me so sad and to think that someday I could potentially have to tell my daughter that my generation was the one that kept her from marrying the person she loves. I can't help to wonder how those individuals yelling "YES ON 8" are going to feel when they potentially may be in similar shoes...

That whole experience reminded me of an excercise we did at camp that included a powerful, but anonymous poem,

IF I TOLD YOU

If I told you I was gay,
Would you turn and walk away
And scorn me ‘cuz I wasn’t like you
Or would you stay with me
Maybe spend the day with me
And tell me being different’s okay, too.

If I shocked you with this news
Would it give you the blues
And bring your disappointment out in me
Or would it open your eyes
Making you realize
That my happiness is all you wish for me.

If I revealed to you my soul
Would you think of me as whole
Or only half a man or women who is strange
Would you turn away and ban me
Or try to understand me And
accept my friendship even with this change.

If I talked of my distress
Would you think me any less
Or could you try to see my point of view
Maybe I don’t “belong”
But I’ve felt it for so long
I am this way and I can’t change for you.

If I showed you my interior
Would you think you were superior
And look on me like a king looks on his peasants
Or like the god above me
Could you find that you still love me And
not feel threatened by my very presence.

If I asked you not to toy with me
Your rejection would destroy me
And make me feel I couldn’t be open again.
Realize that I love you
I chose to share myself with you
Just stay with me as always as my friend