Hello Friend. May I call you friend? I don’t consider you to be my friend, but for the sake of politeness slathered with a shit-tonne of sarcasm, friend will work just fine.
Happy Pride.
I see your Facebook post. It’s one of the 17million things you mindlessly share, parroting some of the most harmful, hateful bullshit around. It’s apparent you didn’t stop to think before you hit POST. In fact, there isn’t much you think about at all these days.
Before I get into the whole topic of “PRIDE”, let’s start with the low hanging fruit. Hopefully this will be like a stone on top of a hill picking up speed as it goes along.
Keep up Spanky. I mean… Friend.
Sin. Really? Truly what is a sin? It’s such a matter which has fluctuated over the years. Mormons use to say all forms of Caffeine were a sin, that is until the the Church of Latter Day Saints bought a ton of stock in Pepsi. For years, it was a sin to be divorced but yet some of you worship a man who has been married three times and has cheated on each of his wives in succession. “God ordained”, I believe you called him.
Dancing used to be a sin. Going to the movies used to be a sin too. Some even thinking eating food not prayed over is a sin. If you can’t keep up, dont worry friend…neither can I.
So do you really think Christians/Evangelicals/Religions have the authority and the credentials to say what IS and what ISN’T a sin? You can’t really use the Bible. C’mon it’s like saying “I’m great and I know I am because I said it to be certain.”. It doesn’t work that way and neither should the Bible be a made of scale of what is righteous and what is oh so naughty.
So we’ll just scratch off ‘sin’ off the list. Buckle up, Friend. It’s gonna get good now.
PRIDE.
It’s seems like for everything meaningful to certain people. Black Lives Matter, Immigration Reform and even the lives of those in the LGBTQ+ community, you find ways to shit on the importance pride holds to us.
I am proud of who I am. If you asked many of my friends…people who I am proud to call my friends…people I was taught growing up were the type of people who were evil and horrible and going to hell with their perversions and mental illnesses…yes these people. These people are proud of me, even Mister Rogers likes me for who I am. No. You said those people were the ones who needed saved. It was my job to “bring them to Jesus”.
What a crock of shit.
This is just barely scratching the surface. The toxic forced gender binary. The purity movement. Pledges and covenants and all sorts of nonsense. Any sense of turning inward to discovers oneself was met with overtures of guilt and shame. We were told to “trust in Jesus” more. We were sent off to camps and youth retreats. (Sending a bunch of horny teenagers off to be in the woods wasn’t really a well thought out idea….just sayin’).
All of these things were to keep us from understanding and discovering your true identity and sense of self-worth. We were nothing without the church. We were nothing without Jesus. We needed to wait on his word and the urges would go away.
BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Friend, here is where I make my stand. Your Bible verse is meaning less to me. It’s a book filled with unverified authors written who knows how long ago and translated and re-translated and marketed to every little segment of society. Still. A circular reference of nothingness.
Because of you and people like you, I want to be clear and concise.
I AM PROUD OF WHO I AM. I have overcome quite a bit to be the person I am today. I am grateful for the friends and new found family who have welcomed me as I am…not as they want me to be. They’re proud of me so why shouldn’t I be proud of myself as well.
You don’t get to take that away any longer. Your words… Your Facebook SHARES of hatred and ignorance make me laugh. There isn’t anger. In fact, I feel sorry for you. I am sorry you have neglected to “study to show thyself approved.” I am sorry you have truly played the role of the sheep. Not to be guided by a shepherd but more like being led off to slaughter.
So friend, Happy Pride. In honor of you, I not only Celebrate Pride, I make it my mission to do it FABULOUSLY!
