Are You Kidding Me?????

It’s been a long time since I wrote in my blog, and for that, I apologize. Sometimes, life gets in the way of life, and mitigating the constant battle between the two is difficult enough without the unexpected drudgery of inexcusable actions inflicted upon us by other human beings. That having been said, I’m sadly reminded that life wouldn’t be the same without having to deal with other people’s stupidity.

Case in point: I was friended by an old early-high school buddy of mine on Facebook recently. At the time, we were very good friends and I often wondered what ever happened to him. I was genuinely excited to hear from him. We exchanged our pleasantries, and caught up a little bit.

Weeks went by with occasional comments to each other’s posts and all seemed fine enough. We even exchanged emails because he wanted to “stay in touch”. Now, keep in mind, my dear readers, I make no apologies for who I am, for my lifestyle, or for who my friends are.. and frankly, if anyone wishes to “de-friend” me on facebook, I *really* will not lose any sleep over it. In fact, PLEASE feel free to dump me if you can’t handle it. The beauty of “de-friending” is that no one really needs to know -- you simply fade into the past from where you originally came from.

But no, this adolescent, simple-minded, mother-fucker, decides it’s a good idea to send me an email with a full explanation of why he no longer wants to be my friend on facebook and regretfully, I deleted the email in a fit of offensive rage after reading it. In a nutshell, this dude “doesn’t converse with faggots”. He “didn’t realize I had decided to become queer”, and had he known he “wouldn’t have friended me”. He was “ashamed that some of [his] friends may have seen that he friended a fag”.

SERIOUSLY?

Clearly, I opted to refrain from fueling this idiotic, stupidity with a reply. But, for me, this incident reminds me that hate never really goes away. I’m saddened by the fact that some people simply never grow up. It also saddens me to think that my lifestyle can’t be fully enjoyed because of this kind of thinking. My community still has to endure attacks like this every day.

I’m reminded of having hate letters appear in my office at a prior job that made me so scared to come to work, I had to leave the job. I’m reminded of hearing people whispering gay related slurs just loud enough for me to hear them when I was in college. I’m reminded how cowardly people can be. But more than anything, I’m reminded that I’m lucky.

I’m lucky that I have the support of brothers and sisters in a community that watch after each other.

I’m lucky that my experiences were never physically harmful to me, despite the cruelty.

I’m lucky that I’ve always had the love and support of my partner to make me feel safe in a world that is too often anything but safe.

As for my facebook buddy? Prior to being de-friended, I took a look through his friends list to see if we had any mutual friends. We have one friend in common, and oddly enough, that friend works for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) … hmm, did I forward that email before I dumped it???

Yup, I did.