Acceptance of Our Differences

In my life I have been truly blessed. I was born into a generation where many before us have fought battles for us in order for us to be just a little bit more free. I was born into a society where I could be gay and not be scared of being persecuted. I am blessed to be able to hold my wife's hand and not feel shame. Unfortunately, not every society, not every generation and not all genders have that opportunity.

The LGBT community is a minority community. In some cities there are large groups committed to providing help and support. However in some areas they don't have strong communities. Within the community there is discrimination towards each other. An example would be against the transgender community. Lesbians towards transgender men, gay males towards transgender women. Is it not enough that straight people discriminate but we feel the need to do it to each other.

I hate discrimination with a passion because it so often stems from hypocracy. So many times people dislike others because they hate that about themselves. For many homophobic people they have feelings within themselves that they either do not accept or do not understand.

I recently read of a story of a transgender male who was made fun of by butch lesbians and their femme girlfriends.  Butch and femme couples will often encounter men who will say offensive statements such as: 'Let me show you what a real man can do.' It's like dealing with children. I worked with children for over 10 years, I was a kid (teenager) myself when I started. "Do unto others as you want done to you." Even they understand that simple concept.

I was 12 when a 8 year old boy said "I'm a girl trapped in a boy's body." For as long as I had known him he just seemed to have a lot of female tendencies and then when he blurted this out it made sense to me and I went on with my childhood.  The fact that he was so young and he seemed to comprehend that concept was a bit peculiar. He understood the concept that he didn't feel comfortable in his own skin but he had an idea of what comfort he was seeking. On top of that his parents were teachers who constantly tried talking to him to understand what he was going through. We all just wrote it off as he was gay. Now I think he may have become a Drag Queen or transgender.

What I want you to understand is that sometimes we just don't feel comfortable in our own skin. A person can feel that societies ideas or norms for their gender don't make them feel comfortable. As a human race we evolve. As societies we move forward we adjust to fit. We adjust to what is comfortable and what our views are. All that we ever want to do is be comfortable with who we are so who are you to judge and bully someone else if you have your own so called faults.

No one will ever be perfect. No one will ever be a perfect fit for a label and its stereotypes. This is why you have to accept that everyone is different. You do not have to accept the why but it try to understand it. Do not judge others if they are not harming anyone. It is not your job to judge it is your job to live your life to the fullest without hurting others. Until you are in someone else's exact position you will not understand them. Remember you never know what is going on in someone else's head. Your comment could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Do you want to hold someone's life in your hand? Do you want to be responsible for the death of a human being? I sure as hell don't. Then again I know that others are different, will always be different and we just have to accept it and embrace it.