Betty & I recently went to a ‘family-friendly’ kind of amusement park while we were in Pennsylvania with my family. We were going to celebrate my grandaunt’s 85th birthday; since no one’s explained the situation to her & she adores ‘Jason,’ Betty decided to go in guy mode to keep things simple. We had a nice day at the park, especially the walking around hand in hand & being able to kiss in public for the day bits. At some point we were talking to my mom about how it was to be a straight couple again for a day, and my mom, being the loving, naive woman she can be, said something along the lines of how we should feel comfortable anywhere. Of course we aren’t, & I had to explain that in places where I see a lot of people are wearing Jesus t-shirts, WWJD stuff, etc., I often feel especially uncomfortable and not welcome. She was unfortunately not surprised but finds it a sad commentary on American christianity.
(Hey, queer-friendly Christians! Take your religion back from the haters!)
Later the same day I was waiting online for the the merry go ’round with my youngest niece, & a girl who was a little developmentally disabled was waiting on line next to us. She asked us which animal we wanted to ride on, and pointed out that she was set on the big gold carriage. We had a nice chat about the park, & who had brought her, & about my family. After the ride was over, I had this moment that I realized it took a really long time for people like her to be able to go to a family park, too. We used to keep “people like that” out of the public eye, you know?
& In some small way that gave me a moment of hope.
I dunno, with all the xtian goth, xtian metal, and xtian punks out there, I think xtians will co-opt queer culture before queer friendly xtians take back ther religion…..
I relate to your feeling on the “otherly abeled” it inspires me as they move about, demanding we respect there personal spaces and force us to truly SEE them as individuals not just the “case” they came in!
Unfortunately, Jude, that isn’t happening. I should say, it’s not happening where I live right now. No way, no how.
What people seem to forget is that the Puritans left England to escape religious persecution. They fled to these shores so that they could worship as they wished.
It seems strange that this kind of desire for religious freedom has evolved into a desire to turn America into a right-wing, Christian fundamentalist enclave that is so divorced from traditional Christian beliefs. How Christian is it to lynch black people (during the Jim Crow south), put Jews in concentration camps, and ignore the Armenian genocide?
What ever happened to live and let live as long as people aren’t hurting one another?
Christine
“What people seem to forget is that the Puritans left England to escape religious persecution. They fled to these shores so that they could worship as they wished.”
And persecute anyone who didn’t worship as they wished. Today’s Talibaptists (thank you for that term, Sirena) are direct descendents of those Puritans.