I took family photos out of my office this week. Because my two godsons and two nephews had given me their photographs for Christmas this year, my family pictures were suddenly predominantly those of little boys. If I were married, this wouldn’t matter; because I’m gay, that’s an issue.David Sedaris got it right when describing an instance where he was in an elevator with two strangers. One was a 10 year old boy and the other was a straight man his own age. The other man felt free to pat the boy on the head and ask if he had any girlfriends. Sedaris, on the other hand, knew that he couldn’t do that. He was in New Hampshire, is gay, and all the little boy would have to do is say that Sedaris had touched him or asked him if he liked girls and folks would have connected their own dots.
In a climate where being gay is equated with being a pedophile (just look at the Catholic Church scandal for one example), I can’t afford the luxury of photos of loved ones in my office.
Sadly, it’s stuff like this that awakens me at 3 AM with anger and sadness.
4 comments:
You should feel completely comfortable putting pictures of love ones in your office. Don't play 'their' game, by doing so you are agreeing to it, abiding by their rule...Just do it, it will make you stronger, happier, more in peace, and the sky won't fall on you, I promise!
In a perfect world, I would feel comfortable. Unfortunately, right now I can't afford to lose any potential clients due to their currently prejudiced game or rules. I may be weaker at the moment for it, but I am used to it; it is part of the reality of being gay in the world today.
You can always hypnotise your homophobic clients into believing that they are gay-friendly. no?
Why stop at just gay-friendly? I'm going to keep them in trance until they are 100% gay. I'm still hoping to win that toaster!
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