MIRROR MIRROR

If you rage against it in life, you will be faced with it. You can count on it. Call it fate, karma, kismet, what-goes-around-comes-around, what you sow, so shall you reap. It doesn't matter. The universe will take note and visit upon you your rant! I know. It’s happened to me. And I deserved it. Fortunately, mine is a forgiving God and I know He has forgiven this of me.

You may or may not know that I am the father of a gay man. For years, he had to listen to me rant and rave about how wrong I said it was simply to be gay. I spewed mountains of hate his way, not knowing all along the harm I was doing to my own son. Fortunately for me, I asked for and he was gracious enough to later forgive me for my hurtful words.

Where did my hatred come from? My upbringing? My friends, family, work associates? Just the day-to-day world in which we live? This, too, doesn't really matter. I was afflicted by all of it. I wasn't making a decision to hate based on any evidence or facts. I was hating for no reason. It was an uninformed decision. I was a lemming, following all the other lemmings into the sea! I hated because I’d been wrongfully told, in many areas, that being gay was wrong.

Now, you can debate this all day long, but being gay is not a choice. Think about the world today. Gays are considered different, odd. They’re vilified, shunned, attacked! Why would anyone choose that? I know from my own son that he was simply born gay. Like I was born straight. Like you were born with black hair and brown eyes. Do you hate me because I was born short, ended up bald, have a mustache? Of course not.

What is it about gay people that causes some to lash out to the point of murder? They’re not going to try to “convert” you! If you touch a gay person, you won’t become gay! You won’t melt if one comes near! Have you even tried talking to a gay person?

So you think gay people are different? Great! Did you ever meet two people who were exactly the same? Aren't we all different?

Then let me ask this simple question. What the hell are you afraid of, America?!

We act in 2015 like all of sudden there are gays in the world! OH MY GOSH! What are we going to do now?! Lock your doors! Hide the children! I’m telling you, some of the finest people you've ever known are gay and you don’t even know they’re gay! Surprise!

What I've discovered in my own life is that Mitch being gay is a non-issue. He’s still Mitch. I’m still me. I’m still his dad. I still, and always will, love him. We have an awesome relationship. It turns out that it was my problem. I was afraid, not for him, but for what people would think of me! Once I got past that, all was good. And, quite frankly, I don’t give a damn what other people think!

So, are you really basing your hate of gay people on facts? Or are you just falling in line with the rest of the lemmings marching to the sea?

I’m not even talking about gay marriage. Let’s set that aside for now. I’m simply talking about giving people a chance to get to know you. Or, at the very least, not hating them simply because they’re gay. I’m talking about putting an end to hate for the sake of hate! I’m talking about simply being a decent human being, for crying out loud!

It’s time to look in the mirror.