The Attack of The Gay's

As a result of poor college dining food and the lack of sleep I packed up a backpack and was on the road to go stay with my great grandmother, 90, and grandmother, 66. Among all the stories I was told and the treats I was fed I learned a very valuable lesson and had moments of realization. It would be a cliche to say that I learned of their wise and witty humor, and how much I really do value them because I of course loved, and worshiped them before our girls night sleepover. However as the topic of gay people entered our conversation over a late night bowl of ice cream, I saw a sudden shift in the mood. My great grandmother, baffled at the idea, stated “The bible does not say Adam and Steve or Autumn and Eve.” She shook her head in disbelief as my grandmother then attacked the idea of two men or two women ever wanting to be together. “Who cares as long they are happy,” I said. The room fell silent as we all sat there with different thoughts rushing our heads. For me, I thought about my normal but very gay friends. To me they glistened in happiness and were nothing less to me then my straight friends but to my grandmother’s confused on the concept, these people were ill. “Hell they aren't right in the head,” she swore. Me being a straight person I couldn’t find it in not only my head, but also my heart to not love someone because of their sexual preference. As someone of such an accepting generation I couldn’t believe my ears, what was being said was stuff that I had maybe read on the internet or saw on the news however I had never heard it with my own ears. I waited for a joke to be cracked or a laugh to shake the room of the homophobia but silence became bigger than the room itself. 

‘The Golden Girl’s’ played in the background, 4 women living together who love each other, and that was okay as long as they weren’t in love with each other. My great grandmother cleared her throat and then begin, this time she had a different look in her eyes and I thought that maybe she was coming around to the idea or she was about to spill the words of ‘but I’d love any of my grandkids just the same if they were gay.’ That is not at all what she said. “Hey you know Cousin Ben? Yeah he’s gay. And when your Uncle Edward told me, I cried and almost dropped dead.” That is when it hit me, being gay and being loved was a lot harder then my friends had ever shared. In this very moment my heart ached for my best friend Matt who strutted through school with the thoughts of dishonor of his grandfather replaying in his head. Or for my friend Nina that ditched her rainbow gay pride pin as she walked into her house in the fear that her parents would ever find out. The love for my grandmother’s from the start of the conversation to the end did not changed but I was stuck in shock and not because of what they were saying but instead because it was people I loved saying it. In conclusion, I believe that over time our society will come around to the idea of people being gay and that not being a defining factor of who they are. As our younger populations mature and replace the older populations I strongly think that as a society everyone will be way more open to the idea. Before this conversation I really didn’t realize what my gay friends go through on an everyday basis with not being straight, such a little factor about people with such big personalities.