Bot....dont you dare to have a second thought about your right to be here because of your sexuality.....if some are offended ...well...the Internet is a wide world isnt'it? They can go and find another more suited place to blah around....or they remain but stay out of your way....
I cant believe you are the one who is apologizing for being here .....this really shows how nice and considerate you are...
and you are right.....i wouldn't engage in any discussion with any of these people as well.......they wouldn't change their opionions anyway.......so why should you waste your time with them?.
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botoni: no need to apologize for being who you are.
i find you refreshing and honestly i never think of it when i read you because as you point out, you are sooooooooooo much more than gay. why do we have to be defined by our sexual orientation?
Hi botoni. I don't care if you feel sexually attracted to penguins, so long as they are consenting adult penguins you are interested in. Your sexuality has no bearing on my opinion of you. The only thing I wonder is this: gay people seem to really like to say that they are gay. Is that because it was very hard for some of them to admit it to themselves that once they do they feel they have to tell everyone? You said it is a part of who you are and you listed several other adjectives to describe yourself. Why aren't those words in your self description? Why is it so fashionable to announce being gay? I don't feel I have to announce that I am heterosexual. I didn't even feel I had to announce whether I was single or married, male or female, human or gastropod. I figured that would all come out in my blogs.
It's not that I find it offensive or that I have a problem with it. It just seems peculiar to me that some people prefer to be known for their sexual orientation up front rather than for their other attributes. In the end I think the kind of person you are is more important than who you want to sleep with. So why do so many gays feel they have to announce that they are gay? Does it have something to do with being free to do so and not being as socially repressed as homosexuality was before (like when it was illegal to be gay in Canada for example)?
Ditto what everyone else has said. There is no need to apologize for being who you are.
I like you just the way you are and enjoying your posts, botoni. Keep on posting and just being you, my dear! : )
I personally dont have anything against "Gays" They choose their lifestyle and ultimate Destiny.
All I ask is why did you put the word Moral in your message?
Morden.......lutefisk was a mandatory serving on Christmas Eve in my childhood. I vote with you. It s awful stuff. I always thought scandinavian women made it so they had an excuse to replace the drapes and carpet every year......the odor lingers forever!
Azzura......yup, I know.....lol.
Hottie.....growing up in Flake certainly could make some folks suspicious that something is amiss! lol.
jen01......This is a bit of 'politically correct' and not meant to offend. I find being gay to be quite normal. And with that statement I ve probably opened a whole new can of worms.
froggie49....Huh!....Never even thought about my use of the word 'moral' as being out of the ordinary. I consider myself to have pretty good morals. I dont steal, kill, hate,lie. I pay my taxes and live a completely normal life. It just happens that I sleep with my own gender. I personally dont find that to be immoral. I m certainly aware that lots do.
skald.....I love that thought of being 'vaguely gay'.....hehehe to me it matches with 'a little bit pregnant'.
Lioneljay.....I ll be holding my breath in anticipation!.....hehehe
mom.....how come you get all the best pinches? I m considering a sexual discrimination complaint here if I dont start getting a few!
skald......I loved the way you said that!...hehehehe
Morden.....the stuff that we buy from the store already prepared and simply heat it up is pretty much odorless. The stuff made from scratch has its own foul odor. Uh.....my error.....it has its own fish odor!
morden....thank God for grandmothers!.....hehehehe
You said:
As for 'tired of hearing about gays and lesbians' I am with you entirely. All the hype created by the media and by militant gays/lesbians is way over the top as far as I am concerned. I wish I could take 'my people' in a different direction. A gentler direction, a less flamboyant and a less confrontational direction. Equally I dislike the vehemence I see from those who detest gays/lesbians.
Me too. I don't read sexual posts written by anyone, so no problem here. I get tired of all the sex everywhere!
Take good care botoni.
truthsayer
Boyzmom......a very interesting question. Before I even begin to answer I have to tell you this is just my opinion. There ll be a million others I m sure. I m ok with that too.
I ll tell you a little bit about me first so you have an understanding of why I come to this answer. I work as a care provider with mentally challenged adults. There are currently two such clients living in my home. The present clients are their own gaurdians and as such make their own decisions. One of my clients knew me, and knew I was gay before he approached me and asked if I would consider being his 'Supported Roommate'. Thats the term used to define my job title.
He was comfortable with me but he also knew me as a person not just a gay man. The second client came through placement via the agency I work under. My agency is aware of my sexuality. In the initial processes there are screening situations in which the proposed client meets me. Usually there is a gaurdian or attending family member also. I have negotiated with the agency that no client will be placed in my home with out first being aware of my sexuality. I do this upfront because I dont want it to become an issue in the future. If it is problematic for anyone involved they and I have the choice to opt for a different situation. Yes, there have been situations where either a client or his support person were uncomfortable. I ve found no reason to be offended over that. Its just a reality of life.
That said....the situation is slightly different for your friend. Most likely the teachers sexuality wasnt presented before hand. Depending on where you live there could be issues involving discrimination around all this. In some jurorsdictions there are laws regarding the handling of these situations. I would advise your friends to first discuss their concerns with the principal with a view to finding out what policies are in place. It can get dicey and I m not proud of that fact.
This can be a bit related to the famous 'Dont tell.....' of the American Armed Forces. I dont think the classroom is a legitimate platform for the teacher to hhtress his sexuality. Inversely I dont think the mere fact that he is gay should be the deciding factor. (Contrary to some strange opinions our agenda is not to recruit.) If the situation is simply that the teacher has not hidden the fact of gayness maybe it is a lesser thing than if he/she is actually stressing that fact and making it a part of his discussions etc.
All those things aside. There are lots of people who have very strong reasons for believing that being gay is wrong. I might ask them to consider some other issues first. The may feel that being racist is wrong. If the teacher was racist would they remove their child? They might be evangelical Christians and the teacher a Jehovah Witness or a Morman. Would they remove their child? Would they remove their child if the teacher was an athiest or maybe dressed like a goth or was heavily tattooed?
As people we have beliefs. We are sure our beliefs are the right ones. When we get to the reality though our beliefs are really just opinions. Their OPINION is that it is wrong to be gay. My OPINION is that it is not wrong to be gay. There are those who will argue on religious principal that gay is wrong. People dont like to hear that there is a religious opposition to that teaching. In my head it comes down to we disagree. For me its ok to disagree.
What I d like to see happen in the situation you describe is this. The parents, the principal and the teacher all sit down with an attitude geared towards finding a comfortable ground for everyone. It might be that the parents will feel more comfortable if the see the teacher as a human being just like themselves. It might be that the teacher is able to offer them some assurances that influencing their child regarding sexuality is not in his plan. Maybe the teacher isnt aware of the affect his being gay and open is having in his class.
Good grief! I m sorry.....I didnt plan on wandering and babbling that long. Sorry, but I hope I ve offered some light.
Back to your initial question. I would not hide my gayness from those people. I am certainly more than willing to be discrete about my gayness. As an example look at this. I have a heterosexual friend. I know that his/her parents are very uncomfortyable about the gay thing. If I meet those parents I ll never bring it up nor would I introduce it as a topic. If it came up in casual conversation I would just let it go by without commenting. I KNOW where THAT conversations is going to go. I know I m not going to change them. Way better to treat them as the kind and wonderful people they are on every other issue. Why stir the pot?
Botoni- I admire you. I want to address a few things that you have brought up. When I was in 4th grade I had a teacher that was very cruel, I ended up with a peptic ulcer and soon turned to bleeding ulcers. When I left the 4th grade and found out who I was going to have for 5th grade, I was terrified. The 5th grade teacher was a big German woman, she was very manly, and she had a reputation for being mean. I felt I had the cards stacked against me once again. To say that I was a nervous wreck is understatement. To this day I don't know how I didn't end up in the hospital. It didn't take long to find out that she was the best teacher, she yelled at everyone BUT her class, her students were the cream of the crop. She took pride in each and every one of them. We use to kind of giggle cause she was more man than woman. At that time we didn't know what gay was. I found out a few years later,that she was lesbian. When the school found out they kicked her out of the school and she was not allowed to teach. I was very upset cause the real witch was allowed to stay on but the good teacher was removed. She never did or said anything that was inaapropriate with her students. She never discussed her personal life. She was our teacher, she taught us and she was good at it. Believe me after what i went through the year before, I was pleased to have a teacher that was kind. She was never allowed to teach again. This has always saddened me.
You brought up the different types of people that might teach such as Goth, racist, etc. There would be no way for anyone to know what a person was or was not if that teacher didn't make it a topic for conversation. I probably would remove my child from a Goths persons' classroom if that teacher dressed like that to school. I think that there is an appropriate way to be with children. In my sons high school there are teachers of all kinds and we have one that believes in communism. As long as that teacher can leave his/her personal life at home and not influence my children with it then I don't care what they do. In high school a child is better to handle things more than elementary or junior high children. I am sensitive to what my children are being taught. There have been racist teachers, I don't care but if their racist attitude is affecting the students, then I have a real problem. So it goes with other topics also.
Botoni- I am Mormon and I know what it is like to be treated unfairly because of my beliefs but my decision is mine and it is what I believe just as anyone else. I think in order to have harmony with people we sometimes have to agree to disagree and respect each other and sometimes love each other inspite of or because of our differences. We are all Gods' children and brothers and sisters in this journey called life.
Mom: they're just dense!!! You should see them when they're ALL together at the same time (Aunts and Uncles).
This SAME Aunt was VERY upset at our other cousins wake, we all were. She came running up toward me, balling. I gave her a hug and said the usual "It's okay, it's fine, just cry. It's a loss for you too!" She looked at me with a death stare and said (referring to her husband that's living in their diningroom after a major stroke) "It's not a loss to me, Daily, HE'S STILL ALIVE!" Then, I had to go on and on to explain to her that my cousin, her Nephew that was laying in the coffin was who I was talking about!!! Then she went about her crying again. She didn't just cry, it was the dramatic scene causing "WHYYYYYYY"!
Daily
daily!!!!!! Down on the floor here rolling with laughs and tears and two dogs that think I ve lost my mind!
I SO want to send rainbow pins for Auntie and Mom! If you re of a mind to see what familys can get up to...Go find a movie titled 'Sordid Lives' Beau Bridges, Olivia Newton-John, Delta Burke, Bonnie Bedelia & Leslie Jordan. It s hilarious but its got a lot of reality.
mom....wonderful response! Thank you. I m very much with you. As a parent I was tremendously protective of my children. At the same time their mother and I both worked diligently at teaching them tolerance.
My middle daughter made me exceptionally proud a few years ago. I was entering into a relationship with a man much younger than myself and of a very different ethnic background. My daughter is a born again evangelical Christian....all this is very much in opposition to her beliefs and those of her husband. A few weeks after meeting my partner she and I were talking. I expressed how much I appreciated how well all of my children and their spouses treated my new partner. She said: "You know dad, I said to my husband, honey dad has supported us in everything we ve ever done. We need to support him in this." And they did.
In another blog you spoke of your struggles with that awful teacher, then and now, I just get really angry! The injustice of firing a teacher because of her sexual orientation is rediculous to me. Judge her as a teacher!
HEY MISTER, lol! I don't use spell check and even if I did I would have missed it! I'm almost always medicated too, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, lol! Don't forget, I have a Boston accent and sometimes I type with one too, lmao!
Daily
Oh Bot, I'm working in reverse right now, sorry! LOL, I'm still doing my "OH JESUS!!!!" from the stupid aunt and mother! I will look for that movie. I could write a book on my Irish Catholic messed up family.
They are BIG TIME holy rollers. My Mother still doesn't believe he's gay (it's against her religion, lol). I have to give her some back-up here...he's never come out of the closet (verbally)! We all know the aunts and uncles are stupid and my cousin knows. I'm sure the shirts he's worn was his way of "coming out" to his cousins without hearing it from the way too Catholic aunts and uncles. I can see why he'd tell us that way, there's over a hundred of us cousins and spouses.
I'm going to email him, now that we're talking about him, lol!
Daily
botoni: Gay? I thought you said you were "grey"-- and me lovin' all this silver hair I had in my mind......
Loves ya', anyway. What color is your hair, if you have any? Just so I can keep the image going.......
{and hugs from silly wombat}
lol Wombat- wow you sound chipper tonight, you are doing much better I take it. YOu are getting to be a spry little thing.
Maybe Bot is gay and grey anbd loving it.
Daily.......I make a smart ass crack about your spelling and what follows? At least two in my next response.......duh!
I m picturing your family. I see the whole crew from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I know I know .....Italian not Greek...but the idea is there.....
When you email 'cuz'....tell him about Sordid Lives.....he ll love it.
Mimi and Mom......Total truth! Families get split up on this stuff a lot.
A little piece you dont know yet. Historically I have been both an Exec Director of an AIDS house and paliative care project as well as a minister. Thats right a man of the cloth. The first person who says man of the rag gets a wet fish.
In my last year as a minister I conducted over 50 AIDS related funerals. The hundreds of hours of counselling I ve done with families who only found their regrets post mortem is appalling to me. Ever wonder why I had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
Wombie........hehehe.....Gay and grey....you got me! Really its more like fringe around the perifery.....I should have been a monk. Since I m able to grow copious quantities of hair everywhere but my head I ve been referred to more than once as.....The furry with the fringe on top.
For the record......I shave the fringe off and go for the chrome dome shine.....way more face to wash but man do I save on hair cuts!
mom: Oh, God, mom, did not know that. I have no words to back up and erase that. All I can say is that there are people who know the difference, and he just hasn't (or hadn't) at that point understood. Communication is the key, maybe. I feel like shit for bringing this pain on you and will not forgive myself for that one. When the time is right, and the one's you wish to talk to are right, I wish you the best. I am so sorry for reminding you or anyone of a hurt. Just kind of happened naturally as it usually does on here.
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Botoni: I can't WAIT for the summer! I hope he comes up wearing rainbow shorts or something! I do NOT know why I always end up standing next to this particular aunt all the time. I know I can't take a sip of anything if she's talking!
She called my Mother during the last snow storm to tell her the roads were horrible, not to drive, the worst she's ever seen...blah, blah blah! SO, my Mom called me to tell me the same thing. I looked out my window "Mom, it's not even snowing yet" and she said it was snowing over my aunts house. Driving from my house hers is between here and my mothers house. Then I thought for a minute...my Aunt doesn't even drive, doesn't even have a license anymore. I had mentioned it to my mother and she had a laugh at herself. Called Aunt and called me back. She said my Aunt said SHE HAD A DREAM that it was snowing and that she drove in it!!! My Aunt is like that, if she dreams or thinks up something, she tells it as fact! Her daughters are constantly humiliated by her!
Daily
daily......I LOVE your Aunt! That is as long as she s your aunt and not mine. Hehehehe.
You ll have me totally bent out of shape if I dont get a report on the summer fashion statement.
Your aunt is not alone in the world of people who report things that happen only in their heads as absolute truth.
Wombie.....LOL.....I ll remove my phone number from the dream post immediately! You bring up an intersting thought though. We ve been discussing our views of what we all loook like, which has turned up some discussion of what we sound like. Maybe I ll get to doing a post around our voices......the sound of my voice, sight unseen, has let me into some strange waters.............
Botoni: I promise, you would go crazy if the wind hit her and blew in your direction. She'll tell all the sisters and brothers that her husband only has days left, they'll all go over and he's asking for a beer. She's a little needy. It's actually gotten so bad with her dramatic ways that one of the sisters will call my sister at work to ask her daughter that works at the same company of the situation...FOLLOW THAT? LOL!
daily
daily......I did follow that! Ok I ll admit I had to re-read it to be sure though. I m loving her more every minute. She s a total Drama Queen! A few people I know are exactly like your description of her. Something clicks on for me when I m around them. I feed off them and see how far I get them to run with whatever it is they re on about. Meanwhile everyone is watching and 'getting' what I m doing. I m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!