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An Essay on Being Gay in America
or Living in Hostile Territory
by B.J.Hendrix
I am a man such that I breathe, sleep, eat, and dream. I am child such that cry, want, need and hope. I am a criminal such that I love, embrace, cherish and live with those that our society tells me I should not. I am man amongst men, a boy amongst children, and an enemy of the state.
I live in fear; I dream in terror. I cannot walk alone in the middle of the night down a dark stretch of lonely highway; it could be the last walk I ever take. I cannot embrace the person I care for in shopping malls and supermarkets; it could be my last human contact. I cannot live honestly in areas where the honest way is God’s way or the conservative way; because in those places, I should not be permitted to live. This is what being gay in America means.
Being gay in America is akin to living in hostile territory. One never knows where the next bomb will be dropped, who will fire the next bullet, who will launch the next attack. Friends, neighbors, teachers, even family members could belong to a secret police that no longer needs its secrecy. Men, women and children that we have known all our lives could suddenly turn on us like a Great White to a flesh wound – quick and savage, knowing no mercy. Dreams may shatter and bones may break. Lives are destroyed over one insignificant detail that seems to divide a nation consumed with ignorance, intolerance, and hatred.
There are those that believe homosexuality is determined by our genetic code – that we are predestined to be attracted to and to fall in love with those of the same sex. Some believe this to be a genetic mishap, a form of genetic retardation; others believe perhaps it is a form of population control in a world that is breeding too quickly. There are others who believe that homosexuality is determined by their environment – that perhaps something went wrong in their childhood. And there are more still who theorize that homosexuality is a choice – that people have the ability to choose their sexual orientation and that they can change their minds and their orientation any time they see fit; these are typically people who believe that homosexuality can be “cured.”
Whatever your beliefs or my beliefs consist of, they are irregardless, unwarranted, and long since unneeded.
The time for explanation and theoretical disputes over the origin of homosexuality is over. The time has come for information, education, action. The time has come for our voices to be heard, our dreams to be realized, and our lives to be lived. The time has come for the reign of fear to be dispelled and the era of equality to be instituted.
Our current administration has declared war upon us. Our elected councilmen and women have chosen to turn their backs on us in our time of need. Never have our cries been greater nor our needs so outspoken. We require equality, we require acknowledgment. We will not stop until these wishes have been granted. We will not give in to the demands of those that would see us die of illness and feel no remorse.
Our nation is devised of a simple guideline: All men are created equal. Am I not a man? Am I not a creation, just as those who lead our nation? Do I not breathe nor live nor die the same as any other man? I have breath, I walk and talk and bleed and scream and cry and someday I will die. Just as any man and just as any woman, my presence here on this earth and in this country is short term. I have but eighty, perhaps ninety years to experience life and love and desire and fulfillment.
The truth is that we all are equal. We all are comprised of the same particles and atoms. We all are made of the same tissue, tears, sweat, and cells. Whether you believe we arrived on Earth by mistake or by some divine plan of some cosmic creator, the fact is – we all are from the same beginning. We are all descendents of the same material. We are the same.
Perhaps the problems we face arise from paranoia. Perhaps we are feared because we are unknown and unpredictable. Perhaps we are hated simply because we cannot, will not conform to what we are taught and shown at even an infant’s age.
The point is this: there is no more time for senseless reasoning and heated debates over the morality of homosexuality nor the cries of hatred and anger, outrageous and insurmountable decrees of religious ideology. There is no more time for anything other than action and demands.
I implore you, challenge you, dare you to raise you voice in protest, to shake your fists in anger, and stomp your feet in difference. We, as a community, are the only people who can bring about change, make our demands become reality. We are the only choice, the only option, and the only hope for our own future.
Not in over forty years have people had to fight for survival - for common luxuries of health care and parental rights. I’m calling on you to fight now. It is time that we wage the war we have been preparing for. It is time to join the ranks of those who came before us so that we may pave the way for those who come after us.
A. E. Housman, in 1896, wrote:
“And you till trump of doomsday
On lands of morn may lie,
And make the hearts of comrades
Be heavy where you die.”
Don’t allow yourself to be silenced – your voice is your sword as your community your shield. No one can take from you your voice. No one can take from you your faith, your dreams, your knowledge that we are created equal and we all deserve to live, happy and healthy.
The time has come for you and I to take the next step. Daybreak has come and the sun rises out of the east. As sure as it will set in the west, we will survive. We have always been and always will be. So long as we continue to fight and live, to love and die, to breathe and shout, we will know that our lives have meaning: that we have known the terror of darkness in a hostile territory and yet we lit torches to light the way towards a better nation.
or Living in Hostile Territory
by B.J.Hendrix
I am a man such that I breathe, sleep, eat, and dream. I am child such that cry, want, need and hope. I am a criminal such that I love, embrace, cherish and live with those that our society tells me I should not. I am man amongst men, a boy amongst children, and an enemy of the state.
I live in fear; I dream in terror. I cannot walk alone in the middle of the night down a dark stretch of lonely highway; it could be the last walk I ever take. I cannot embrace the person I care for in shopping malls and supermarkets; it could be my last human contact. I cannot live honestly in areas where the honest way is God’s way or the conservative way; because in those places, I should not be permitted to live. This is what being gay in America means.
Being gay in America is akin to living in hostile territory. One never knows where the next bomb will be dropped, who will fire the next bullet, who will launch the next attack. Friends, neighbors, teachers, even family members could belong to a secret police that no longer needs its secrecy. Men, women and children that we have known all our lives could suddenly turn on us like a Great White to a flesh wound – quick and savage, knowing no mercy. Dreams may shatter and bones may break. Lives are destroyed over one insignificant detail that seems to divide a nation consumed with ignorance, intolerance, and hatred.
There are those that believe homosexuality is determined by our genetic code – that we are predestined to be attracted to and to fall in love with those of the same sex. Some believe this to be a genetic mishap, a form of genetic retardation; others believe perhaps it is a form of population control in a world that is breeding too quickly. There are others who believe that homosexuality is determined by their environment – that perhaps something went wrong in their childhood. And there are more still who theorize that homosexuality is a choice – that people have the ability to choose their sexual orientation and that they can change their minds and their orientation any time they see fit; these are typically people who believe that homosexuality can be “cured.”
Whatever your beliefs or my beliefs consist of, they are irregardless, unwarranted, and long since unneeded.
The time for explanation and theoretical disputes over the origin of homosexuality is over. The time has come for information, education, action. The time has come for our voices to be heard, our dreams to be realized, and our lives to be lived. The time has come for the reign of fear to be dispelled and the era of equality to be instituted.
Our current administration has declared war upon us. Our elected councilmen and women have chosen to turn their backs on us in our time of need. Never have our cries been greater nor our needs so outspoken. We require equality, we require acknowledgment. We will not stop until these wishes have been granted. We will not give in to the demands of those that would see us die of illness and feel no remorse.
Our nation is devised of a simple guideline: All men are created equal. Am I not a man? Am I not a creation, just as those who lead our nation? Do I not breathe nor live nor die the same as any other man? I have breath, I walk and talk and bleed and scream and cry and someday I will die. Just as any man and just as any woman, my presence here on this earth and in this country is short term. I have but eighty, perhaps ninety years to experience life and love and desire and fulfillment.
The truth is that we all are equal. We all are comprised of the same particles and atoms. We all are made of the same tissue, tears, sweat, and cells. Whether you believe we arrived on Earth by mistake or by some divine plan of some cosmic creator, the fact is – we all are from the same beginning. We are all descendents of the same material. We are the same.
Perhaps the problems we face arise from paranoia. Perhaps we are feared because we are unknown and unpredictable. Perhaps we are hated simply because we cannot, will not conform to what we are taught and shown at even an infant’s age.
The point is this: there is no more time for senseless reasoning and heated debates over the morality of homosexuality nor the cries of hatred and anger, outrageous and insurmountable decrees of religious ideology. There is no more time for anything other than action and demands.
I implore you, challenge you, dare you to raise you voice in protest, to shake your fists in anger, and stomp your feet in difference. We, as a community, are the only people who can bring about change, make our demands become reality. We are the only choice, the only option, and the only hope for our own future.
Not in over forty years have people had to fight for survival - for common luxuries of health care and parental rights. I’m calling on you to fight now. It is time that we wage the war we have been preparing for. It is time to join the ranks of those who came before us so that we may pave the way for those who come after us.
A. E. Housman, in 1896, wrote:
“And you till trump of doomsday
On lands of morn may lie,
And make the hearts of comrades
Be heavy where you die.”
Don’t allow yourself to be silenced – your voice is your sword as your community your shield. No one can take from you your voice. No one can take from you your faith, your dreams, your knowledge that we are created equal and we all deserve to live, happy and healthy.
The time has come for you and I to take the next step. Daybreak has come and the sun rises out of the east. As sure as it will set in the west, we will survive. We have always been and always will be. So long as we continue to fight and live, to love and die, to breathe and shout, we will know that our lives have meaning: that we have known the terror of darkness in a hostile territory and yet we lit torches to light the way towards a better nation.
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