Why I DID Wear Purple, DJB responds to Naveregnide

This is the sort of thing I usually reserve for my blog http://dadpoet.wordpress.com. Normally this space is mostly for poetry, and some fun with my sons, especially when that fun involves fun with language, as in the Dad Libs playlist (A new one of those is on the production table right now, btw).

But this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjzN8l7cc78 got my attention because I did wear purple on the 20th. I went through a long and difficult struggle coming out. My faith was very important to me, and I was being told from the pulpit, the radio, the TV and from all sides that homosexuality was a moral evil.

I spent my teen years in denial and deep in the closet, almost literally. I cannot tell you how many nights I sat in a corner of my room, crying because these "evil thoughts" would not go away, no matter how I prayed.

Turns out, there was nothing evil about the desire for companionship and love from a member of my own gender. Unusual? Sure, that's fair. If normal is what most people do, it wasn't normal. But neither was it immoral. I was believing the misinformation passed down for ages by some actually sincere people.

Sure there are hate mongers out there, but to be fair, many of those who disagree with me do so out of the same convictions that I had. It's just they never had to face it head on like I did, or like many who do when they find that someone they love deeply is gay. It's easier to think less of a class of people if your religion tells you to. But more than that, it's easy for a culture to infiltrate a sincere religion with it's prejudices and biases. The bible condones slavery. The bible condones the subjugation of women. Need I say more?

Well, this video is my over-long response. It's not professionally planned out. I'll save that for the writing I've been doing on this topic. But it is passionately and sincerely stated.

John Corvino says it better than I do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SutThIFi24w

And here are a few stories that explain why we gays and lesbians sometimes lose our cool. Injustice does that. Perhaps the Christians would call this righteous anger if it were coming from them. Me, I just call it my moral conviction. It's certainly more than just my opinion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/nyregion/09bias.html?_r=1

http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2010/10/meet-the-face-of-hate-midland-school-boar...)

http://www.365gay.com/news/watch-anderson-cooper-takes-on-anti-gay-bigot/

http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2010/10/12/michigan-athletes-support-gay-st...

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[6BURG9]

Thank you for this video. I am a straight male and i do not consider myself a supporter of homosexuals, i am a supporter of freedom; and sexual preference is one of the many freedoms that people should have the right to. I also did not wear pink on my schools day of pink because i think it perpetuates this association with gays and pink or purple or whatever. why not wear a rainbow coloured shirt? wouldnt that be more appropriate? wouldnt that show a tolerance of ALL people?

[sonofwalt]

@6BURG9 Thanks for listening and for the props. Like I indicated in the video to Naveregnide, whatever you wish to do or wear to show support is ok by me. :)

[emelia33]

2.

I wore purple on the 20th because things need to be heard, if we had a day of wearing a colour for all people who commited suicide i would do it because it's a problem that needs to be fixed

[sonofwalt]

@emelia33 Thank you for these encouraging words. It's finals week for me and I needed that boost.

[sonofwalt]

@AntiFaithNY The one that started with "I'd rather..."

[sonofwalt]

@AntiFaithNY I particularly like that last statement. Thanks! :)

[darkhawk84]

I needed that I mean there are too many people that would tear us down or say untruths about us as Christians and about being gay I'm not gay but I have a gay aunt who I love all the same as if she was gay and her church leader she's gay and so on. Gay people are some of the most successful people in the arts. To bash a Christian for his/her sexual orientation is wrong.

[emelia33]

1.

i think doing this was a very strong & amazing thing to do :) i think one issue we need to confront is not having people worldwide using words like them & us. these words are very important & can make people feel like we are different & we are but we are all human beings liking the same gender or liking the opposite gender should not make people us & them. i am straight & i have friends who aren't & that's cool. .

[sonofwalt]

@Funkifizzle What it may come down to, despite my respect for your right to observe your religion as you see fit, I personally would refuse to accept or believe in a literally interpretation of many of those passages, if literal meant applying all commandments with equal weight today as they would have been in a very different cultural situation. It's sad that in the long list of laws (613) only 13 are under the heading "Love and Brotherhood," and one of those commands us to "rebuke the sinner."

[sonofwalt]

@Funkifizzle And isn't the punishment for some of these sins actually death? Or how about Leviticus saying that if a man and woman have sex during her menstrual period they should be "cut off from their people?" I'm reading explanations and it sound much like my arguments about cultural situations as apposed to moral situations. How the Torah is interpreted and applied seems as important for Jews as how the New Testament is applied for Christians. If the issue is no longer an issue, then what?