Being Homosexual dealing with homophobia

From Todaycollegetour

So, you remember how last week I told you I was contacting my old boss to see if I could come back and work at the camp where I used to work? After waiting a few days for a call back, I finally got a response. I brought a copy of the email here. “Hey, Thanks for calling yesterday. I am awaiting a few more contracts to come back and all going well I would be staffed for the summer. However, not taking away from you the years you have worked for us, due to your personal position I would be unable to offer you a placement should one open up. I am aware that you are in a relationship with another female and, as I hope you can understand, it would not be fair on campers, other staff and your own beliefs to offer you a summer contract. I am not trying to be discriminating but I do have to follow camp policies. I would not hesitate in giving you a great reference if you should ever need one. If you feel you would like to discuss this further I would be more than happy to talk to you about it.” Wow, talk about a kick in the gut. I only worked up there for seven years. I mean… is it not enough that I put myself out there to call and ask for a job from someone I have known and worked with for ten years? Is it not enough that when I came out I effectively destroyed all the dreams my parents once harbored for me? They knew life was not going to be easy for me. They had seen some of their friends’ lives destroyed when they came out. They were so afraid for me and, in some cases, still are. I thought they were being silly. This is 2009. I mean, people don’t act like they used to. Being gay isn’t as harshly regarded as it used to be. Surely, I wouldn’t be turned away for being gay. Wow, the world sure is harsh sometimes. I guess I knew that when a good friend of mine was killed a few years back. He was gay and was beaten to death by someone screaming “Faggot” as my friend lay dying on the sidewalk. I guess I just never expected to be faced with such blatant homophobic reactions myself. Maybe I was just being simplistic and not actually thinking but I really thought the world was different. I guess in some ways, I thought I was different and I wouldn’t experience the same exclusion that so many gays face. Being gay shouldn’t make me any more of a target. I’m just another human being. I just want to be able to live, find love and, hopefully, be happy. Why shouldn’t I be allowed that? It’s not like societies around the world have never changed before. Ancient societies denounced their own beliefs as new religions such as Judaism, Christianity and others became more popular. For many years, countless different peoples were abused and deprived of basic human rights because in some way they were not the same as their oppressors. Women had no rights in many instances and before the 1960s, African Americans in this country didn’t have many of the same privileges whites did. But all of that changed. Why can’t it be our time for change? Why can’t I go back to a former employee and know that even though the fact that I am gay isn’t hidden anymore, I still have a chance at being re-hired? People make jokes all the time about gays. I know they think it’s funny and usually they don’t mean to be mean, but can’t they see that those jokes are hurtful? Can’t they understand that I’m not made of stone? I’m flesh and blood just as they are and all I want, all I need, is to be accepted and loved, just like anyone else? What’s so hard for them to get about that? I wish I knew that things were going to be different in the future. I wish I knew that every day I wake up I won’t be facing these same problems, day after day, every day for the rest of my life. I wish I knew that people were going to accept me, just for me, without the labels and connotations that go along with them. I wish I knew….