Finding Strength in a Time of Hate

Hello. My name is Jey. I am a proud member and supporter of the LGBT community. First of all, I want to wish everyone a Happy National Coming Out Day. I hope everyone stays strong as we continue to fight for our rights. Now, on to what I wanted to talk about...

I was watching a documentary over the weekend about the Westboro Baptist Church and the things I saw made me annoyed beyond words. But I will try to compose my thoughts and get them out there on this blog post right here. To begin with, members of the church said they were preaching love of God and trying to save people from Hell. How can such hateful words be said in the name of love and God? How can hatred for one group of people be justified like that. I admit, I have not read the Bible, but I do know that Jesus preached love and forgiveness. What the WBC stand for is the exact opposite.

Also, WBC members constantly go on about how horrible America is and how this country is going to Hell. Well, if you really think it is that bad here, move out. No one is stopping you. The only reason these people haven't moved out is because this is the only country in the world where they have the freedom to say these nasty and hurtful things without any consequences. Remember awhile back, they wanted to protest the funerals of the victims of the massacre in Sweden? They were stopped dead in their tracks because the Swedish government threatened to throw them in jail if they came. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if they truly believed what they were preaching, wouldn't they still go and stand up for what they think is right even with the threat of jail time? Something just seems fishy there.

Yes, we do have the Freedom of Speech in America, but with that freedom comes responsibility. There is a time and a place for everything, and just because you have the right to say something doesn't mean it should be said. To protest at a funeral and shot these nasty insults at people when they are trying to mourn a loved one is just wrong. Maybe he or she was a sinner in one person's eyes, but on the other hand, that is some one's loved one and their loss is painful enough. I guarantee that if a group of gays were to protest a WBC funeral, the church members would not be happy, and would sue the group that protested their funeral.

I think that the WBC is not about spreading the word of God. It is about one man's hatred for a group of people that has done nothing to harm him. He is rounding up people to do his dirty work and spread his message of hate. This is one man's personal agenda, and he is using these people to do it. Even the young children are caught up in this, and they are innocent victims as well. In the documentary I watched, the reporter asked one of the children if he knew what "fag" meant, and the child could not answer him. These poor children are just more victims of WBC's hate.

I will conclude by saying this: By no means am I a perfect person. I say bad things I don't mean, I do things I'll regret, I have some anger management problems, I drink more than I should. But I do all this because I am human, not because I am dammed to Hell or whatever. Humans are supposed to make mistakes, humans are supposed to be flawed. I know things will never be perfect and people will always have hatred or other people. But on the flip side of that, people can also be great and can learn to love others. If we all take a step back and look at the greater picture, we will all see how much time and energy is wasted on hate.

So, this Coming Out Day, I wish everyone strength and love, because it is much harder to love, but it is worth it.

Why the Gays?

Ok all this talk about the Michelle Bachman and her husband's "gay therapy" has me thinking.

First of all, why try to change someone? Being gay is a part of who someone is and it's stupid to try to change that. It would be like trying to change someone's ethnicity...it can't be done. And those people who say that you can successfully be "un-gay" are just kidding themselves and everyone around them. If a person being gay bothers you that much, then just leave them alone and don't have anything to do with them. Why can't people just be adult about it rather than trying to change the fundamentals of who a person is? Or even worse are the people who have so much hate that they go around targeting gay people and beat them up. It just baffles my mind that people have that much time and energy to devote to something they hate. Why not channel that energy into doing something you love or something more productive? To me, that seems like a much better use for someone's time rather than make another human being's life miserable.

Second, why the gays? Have you noticed lately that groups are targeting gays and using gays as a scapegoat for the world's problems? It seems like people just want someone to pin their problems on so lift the blame off themselves. It's happened throughout history with Jews, blacks, and almost any other group that is different from the majority, or what is considered "normal." In reality, people would get a lot more accomplished if we all banded together as one human race and tried to solve our problems together. Maybe that is the point of having all these different types of groups on this planet: to offer different points of view and different ideas on how to make the world better. But instead of trying to make the world better, we all fight amongst each other and create more problems for ourselves.

But sadly, this hate will always exist. I don't think it's being pessimistic to say that. I think that as long as there are different beliefs and different points of view, there will always be conflict and hate. I'm not saying that we all need to join hands and sing hippie songs about friendship, but I'm saying we need to put our differences aside a little bit so we can coexist on this planet...because this is all we have so might as well try to make the best of it. However, we are a long, long way away from that.

And this post went way off from where I originally wanted it to go, but I think it still gets my point across, so I'm leaving it the way it is. :)