We talk about peace
With a spiritual holiness
Bordering on
Religious faith.
And yet
At the same time
We fill our lives
With a dogmatic violence
In harming others
Who appear different.
I say this
As a person
Who has experienced
LGBTQ+ bashing
For being too feminine
Living in a male body.
Attacking me
For being a gay male
And transgender
Simultaneously.
(When most people
Didn't know
What the term
Transgender meant.)
In being jeered
As a “c--k sucker”
“Momma’s boy"
To a “f---ing sissy.”
And that's
Only the polite terms
I had hurled
By kids and adults
Alike.
Please don't delude yourself
This type of labelling
Has stopped
In the past half century
Since the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
There's a reason
Why Toronto's Gay village
Has banks of payphones
Directly linked to
An emergency operator.
Although
With the arrival
And spread of cellphones
Need for these banks
Has lessened.
Still
The root causes
Of this hate
Is alive and well
In fear and ignorance.
That'll never disappear
As long as
Humanity exist.
However
We may wish.
Therisa © 2018
Author's note: Within the week, people, whether they identity as gay or straight, trans or cis, will be lining Toronto's Gay village for the 38th annual Pride parade. Although, I may complain about Pride Toronto, this is a constructive and healing way to bridge the gap of ignorance and fear, with love. Besides, no one has ever died, from attending Toronto's Pride events.
2 comments:
The fear of what they see is what they fear in themselves. The hatred they feel is their hatred of self. As a Christian, I am called to love my enemy, but damn these homophobes test my religious faith. Keep being you, my friend.
Thank you, Mosk. May your days of testing be reduce, but I think that's just wishful thinking on my part.
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