Two Christian guesthouse owners who were ordered to pay
damages after refusing to allow a gay couple to stay in a double room lost
their appeal here yesterday. Could it be that, regarding sexuality (in some
parts of the world at any rate) it is putting itself to rights at last?
Everyone has right to their own religious beliefs, but no
one has the right to impose them on others. Besides, I may not be a religious
person, but I know my Bible, and Jesus of Nazareth is not portrayed as someone
likely to condemn anyone for their sexuality.
Don’t these ‘devout’ Christians know their New Testament at
all? So many seem to have lost the plot altogether. For example, whatever
happened to the ‘love thy neighbour’ bit? Not that certain Christians are alone
among certain followers of certain world religions when it comes to losing the
plot...
One thing is certain
though. There will always be wonderful people in the world who possess quality sure
to get the better of any socio-cultural-religious prejudices without having to
resort to either compromise or deception; it is called commonsense.
This poem last appeared here in December 2010 and I have
since slightly but significantly revised it. Reader ‘Jermaine’ has asked me to
repeat it for his boyfriend, ‘Dave’, whom he met in The Black Cap gay pub in
Camden Town, London NW3 a year ago
today. I only go there occasionally these days, for old time’s sake, but have
some wonderful memories of that pub,
and recommend it to everyone.
PUTTING THE WORLD TO RIGHTS
We met at a pub in Camden Town,
having arranged it on the Internet,
but for a while weren’t even sure
if we liked each other, never mind
up for sex
After failing to put the world to
rights,
we felt far less wary of each other;
I began to feel attracted to a fullness
of lips, growing sensuousness of body
language
The more he talked, the less I heard,
a gleam in each eye distracting me,
and several shirt buttons left undone
inviting me to caress the bronzed flesh
within
By the time we got round to deciding
who should go to whose for coffee,
all I wanted was to slip under a duvet,
let him enter me, make good the poetry
of imagination
No duvet greeted me, but sheets of
satin,
caressing my body even before his turn
to feel his way through the dark
passages
of my self, guilt blocking every attempt
to come clean
He persevered, took me to the climax
of my fears, let flow waters of the
earth
to succour this lonely self, left for
dead
by those who insist it’s a sin for one
man
to love another
If love means breaking ties that bind
generations, let’s have no reservations;
love is far too precious a gift to throw
in the face of a fate that wants the
best
for us all
We gay folks love to be just as close
to family and old friends as anyone
else,
but there’s a love we place even higher,
and it’s a foolish person caves in to
those
denying us that
Copyright R. N. Taber
2009; 2011
[Note: This poem will appear in my new collection Tracking the Torchbearer to be published
by the end of this month /early March.]
0 comments:
Post a Comment