I saw this gay pride sticker that said, "we are born to be loved". I couldn't agree more but as I read it, I got sad, because although it was on a rainbow flag that primarily symbolizes pride, it seemed more like a cry for help and true love, and I realized - we're failing them. As a country, we are failing the LGBTQ community.
June 2017 - it's pride month. The month where rainbow stickers, flags, and advertisements decorate a town. The month where parades and festivals are thrown because of the identity people claim. To be exact though, only the LGBTQ community is applauded and recognized during the month of June. Those of us that claim an identity unparalleled to queer or gay aren't awarded the same month to share our own pride. Nor are we applauded and encouraged for identifying as straight. And though I could use this platform with the Odyssey to share "straight pride" or for lack of better words, bash on the gay community, that wouldn't do any good and there's something of much greater magnitude that I need to share and discuss.
At this point in the article, you may have some preconceived notion that because I am not gay, I hate gays. And I want to be clear with you that although I am not gay, I don't hate gays. Just as I am not male, but do not hate males. However, you love the person, not the sin. You love the person through the confusion, the questions, the misunderstandings, but you never love and encourage the sin, because that wouldn't be love. And throughout the month of June, I've sat back and watched us glorify something that is not right. Quite frankly, I watch people slap God in the face, claiming something other than the beauty and life He gave to them.
"Love is love" - right? Then let me be bold and blunt and love you in a way the world has forgotten to: through boundaries. See, the world has equivilated happiness and acceptance of everything and anything to love. And that's not right. If my parents loved me the way the world loves, then I would be on all fours right now, as a 19-year-old, barking like a dog. Because as a 4-year-old I played dog and I swore I was one. I loved them, learned everything about them, heck I still own an encyclopedia of dogs. As a child, I identified as a dog a lot of the time. But at the end of the day, my parents would make me stand up on my two feet and come eat dinner with them as a little girl.
If that example was too confusing, here's another: if my parents loved like the world, I would be an overweight, unhealthy kid due to my love of chocolate. Because chocolate makes me happy, my parents (if they had loved like the world) would have fed me chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But my parents, fortunately, choose to love authentically and genuinely - through boundaries. In fact, most people are blessed with parents who do the same, especially after trick-or-treating. They remind you to eat just a few pieces because they don't want you getting sick. To put it simply, a love with boundaries is a love that although may be hard and difficult, is lasting, healthy, and true. And a love without boundaries isn't only easy and shallow, but it's destructive over time, and it always falls short.
This article isn't me, some straight girl, demanding a pride month for straights. Instead, it's a questioning of the entire month that we've set aside as a country to fall short on our responsibility to truly and fully love. By no means am I condemning those of the LGBTQ community. In fact, I have many friends that identify as such. And I want to apologize because as a country we've substituted the boundaries of real love with some fake acceptance and shallow encouragement of everything you may identify as. And I refuse to sit back and be okay with the world failing to love fully, especially in regards to the LGBTQ community. We're failing them as a country. We sell this image of pride and happiness but without real love and it all of its boundaries, we fall short of our only role - to love all authentically.
