Lie of being evil, and the truth of love

So, going more into the "norm" which society labels heterosexuality and then the "other," known to be homosexuality, I want to touch on a few things and my past that ties a bit into this. I also want to throw a bit of homophobia with this.

I can completely relate to the upbringing and how people are, what we consider "homophobia," because I once fell into that category as a kid. I was always brought up to be the man, and not cry (masculinity). I also was told what was rite and wrong in the view as majority of the nation as it may seem. I also would make gestures in a negative way and comment about homosexuality. In other words, I was like many heterosexual males.

My whole family brought me up to fear gay and lesbians and that gays have aids, rape, and will take advantage of me if I was alone in an area were I am vulnerable. Obviously, we all know how ridiculous this notion is.

I will also throw this one at you as well. I was also in the group of people who was looked at as gay. I was and still am today a heterosexual male, but what got many people to horas me and call me names such as homo and all the mean jokes about homophobia from my own friends was because I was a competitive ice dancer. I have done this most all my life till I was about 26 and now I will once in a while jump on for fun now. As you can imagine, growing up this could be a little tough, since were I grew up in Texas, people were very conservative.

I finally learned the truth on the gay and lesbian community and how the people really are. I had a new coach who was from England. During my parents divorce, he volunteered to take me under his wing and make sure I was in good care and away from all the issues around divorce I was going through. We did everything together and he really became like my bigger brother. He even enjoyed doing much of the outside things I did such as play sports and what not. One day, many months later, he finally came out to me once he felt it was time. I at first did not believe him since I knew he could not be gay since he was not sick, trying to touch me, or rape me (as I was always brought up to believe)and he was married. Come to find out, his wife was a lesbian and she married him to help get his citizenship. This is probably why he was careful about telling me to soon. I actually got to know him and really enjoyed having him around as a friend. After the initial shock and I finally believing it, I really started to question him about everything since as it was at that moment, everything I thought was far from the truth. I asked how, and he told me that it was not like that and explained it to me as well as many other questions.

After this, I found out most the friends that were his and we hung out with and I enjoyed their company were gay and lesbian. I really started to open up to this and am really glad he opened up my way of thinking and showed me the true side and perspective on this. I would never be able to have had the friends I do now if I never met this guy and still today we keep in touch. He is still with his partner that he met sixteen years ago when I was living with him. They are still as happy as the day they met and very successful as well.

Today I am probably one of the most open minded people and a strong supporter of gay rites. I go to many clubs with my friends and my awesome girlfriend who is just as opened minded as I am. I also have many really close friends that I would never have had if I never met my friends those many years ago. I now find myself truly bless.

So, with all this being said, the views of many in our society and the negative notations towards Lesbians and Gay males, do not only hurt those people that are ridiculed, it also can hurt us as the ones truley missing out knowing some great people. There is a lesson to be learned here and people really need to open up and come together. Do not judge others, and be happy for their happiness. You can look at it this way, those people that some ridicule and do not except know who they are and have figured out happyness. Many people in their shoes and even in the straight community are still trying to figure out who they are. We are all alike in many ways and no one is better or less of a person because of their sexual orientation.