Monday, May 25, 2009

Blog for truth 1: How does the hate affect us?

Love is the focus here, but this week we look at hate -- the hatred aimed at GLBT people and how it affects us. We will post daily as part of “Blogging for Truth,” a group blogging project from May 25-31. These are stories that must be told. The truths told here at the Jesus in Love Blog this week have not been published before. As founder of JesusInLove.org, I emphasize love. I live by and promote Jesus’ teachings on love, I believe that he loves everyone, and I tell myself that hate has no power. However, I was immediately struck when I read the invitation to join Bloggers for Truth: “LGBTQ bloggers and all allies are invited to write articles about the truth of our existence and lives. …To blog your personal experiences, and how the hate affects you personally.” Nobody ever asked me before about the day-to-day realities of lesbian life in America. I’ve always told myself that I was not affected by anti-gay hate. I was never physically harmed in a gay bashing. I faced homophobia, but I didn’t let it stop me. The invitation from Bloggers for Truth woke me up to truths I have not wanted to face: Yes, I have personal experiences of anti-gay hate. They didn’t stop me, but -- yes, they did affect me. Starting tomorrow I will recount one experience and try to assess its impact on me. And later in the week, a guest blogger will tell all about “the hate that hate produced.” We are not writing directly about public pronouncements by the “Anti-Gay Industry,” which are described in detail at the main Bloggers for Truth site. Those anti-gay statements set the stage for the personal encounters we will describe. _____ P.S. These posts expressed so much fear and hate that I decided to delete them as soon as Bloggers for Truth Week ended. --Kitt, June 1, 2009

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds like such a great idea!
Let's get personal about hate affects us in our real lives. No matter how much gay or lesbian rights are out there, we still have to deal with the cruelty of hetero arrogance every day of our lives!

Rebecca said...

What an amazing approach. I am really looking forward to this!!
Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Finally personal stories about what it's really like to be gay or lesbian in America! I was beginning to think that it had become one big activist website with little attention to the actual day in and day out challenges.