Millions Like Us

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Let some people say what they will, there is nothing ‘unnatural’ about being gay. Nor are we select products of our environment. We are human beings and no less natural for being gay than if we were (heaven forbid) straight. We come into the world this way and bigots should keep in mind that we are (or should be) a common humanity, whatever (and wherever) our socio-cultural-religious roots.

As I have said time and again on the blogs, and written poems on the same theme, sexuality has to be in the genes or how else can we explain that there are gay, homosexual, queer people (what's in a name anyway?) world-wide from all manner of socio-cultural-religious backgrounds? Furthermore, history tells us that many gay people have made a valuable contribution to the arts and sciences, so that hardly justifies the bigots and religious fundamentalists dismissing us for not ticking the right boxes. [Who wants to tick theirs anyway?]

In other words, we’re all in the same boat and if the boat is top heavy, no one is going to use our sexuality as a reason for our being the first to be thrown overboard. Just let them try, yeah?

Sexuality is only a part of our whole identity; it is the whole that counts. How would the socio-cultural-religious homophobes (by any other name) among us like it if we were to all but ignore everything about them except for their having drawn the heterosexual straw in the womb?

For anyone interested you can hear me read today’s poem on Brighton beach back in May for my YouTube channel. Incidentally, the camcorder we were using was stolen and I replaced it with an updated version of the same model that seems to work much better. We have recently improved recordings further by using a digital Dictaphone, but can only use this for voice-overs. I love recording on location, but we don’t have top of the range equipment (more like the reverse) so have to hope for the best. A number of viewers have been in touch to say they enjoy my YouTube channel while Graham and I have great fun making the videos so that’s good enough for us. Moreover, reading the poems and editing the videos has been a very enjoyable learning curve for Graham and me so look out for more as time goes by.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxDfd2Pxqic

If the link doesn’t work, go to my YouTube channel. Click on ‘see all’ and scroll down to Brighton in May (3):

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber

[OR (updated 2012) simply click on the video below in which it is one of two poems I read.]

This poem is a kenning.

MILLIONS LIKE US

I am but one among many
sometimes pushed into a corner
or against a wall,
nor does Earth Mother always hear
when I call on her
to referee a fair fight, whistle them
downwind who seek
to wipe me out, cast doubt
on my birthright

I can but catch the tears
Earth Mother lets fall for failing me
sometimes, wash myself clean
of the world’s blood, sweat and dirt
staining my shirt,
pick myself up again, smile
in the face of adversity,
signal to my enemy that I am not
discouraged easily

I take hope and inspiration
from Earth Mother’s heartfelt concern
for all her children,
vulnerable as some of us are
to humankind’s dark side, especially
the likes of me,
frowned upon by a majority
bent on playing up to temporal ‘norms’
and a fragile spirituality

Call me out, who puts the ‘I’ in Identity,
the gene nature lets speak for sexuality

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009

[Note: This poem will be included in my collection Tracking The Torchbearer scheduled for publication in February/March 2012]

I am Stonewall, Making the Case for a Common Humanity

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Sunday, June 28, marks the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 1969, the event largely regarded as a catalyst for the LGBT movement for civil rights in the United States.  The riots inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organise in support of gay rights, and within two years after the riots, gay rights groups had been started in nearly every major city in the United States. 

Gay history has made us who we are. We, in turn, continue to make gay history with every positive step we take in its name. It is as much a part of gay people as the history of art, literature, music, sport...whatever it is that matters most to us in so far as we recognise it has helped shape the multiple facets of our identity for the good.

There will always be those bigots who love the sound of their own voices and will loudly insist that homosexuality is not a force for good. Oh, and bigotry is...?

This poem is a villanelle.

I AM STONEWALL, MAKING THE CASE FOR A COMMON HUMANITY

It’s no small part of me,
aches along with ageing bones
would set my spirit free

Even nature’s poetry
cannot gag its cries and groans;
it’s no small part of me

Alive to my sexuality
that an ages-old bigotry disowns,
would set my spirit free

Haunted by dark misery,
morality’s love for hurling stones;
it’s no small part of me

Yet, there is creativity,
uniting even the world’s religions,
would set my spirit free

An inspired spirituality
configuring a common humanity;
it’s no small part of me
would set my spirit free

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011

Philanthropists

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Although I am not a religious person, I respect the beliefs of others. As for God, I am not exactly closed minded on the subject, but take what I feel as a strong sense of spirituality from nature, not religion. I grew up with religion and it did nothing for me except except torment me by making me feel a freak because I am gay. Nature makes me feel good about myself, so - rightly or wrongly - I will stick with nature. I am no atheist, though, and maybe nature and what we call God are the same...who knows?

A friend for whom religion is a huge part of his life and personal identity once asked me if I thought religion was 'big enough' to accept a gay person. I lent him a DVD called 'Rock Haven' about a young Christian struggling to reconcile his religion with being gay. It is a beautiful film.

Religion should never be confused with spirituality. The latter is by far the stronger and its pull by far the greater. When it comes to making the right choices, especially in matters of the heart, there is no place for misplaced guilt of the kind often imposed by those who profess to have our best interests at heart, but only according to some socio-cultural-religious criteria that is even more misplaced.

Christian, Muslim, whatever...we are as we are born, and if we believe in a God that is helping to shape body, mind and spirit then how can anyone believe he or she deserves rejection for this same God's shaping that part of us that happens to be gay. I don't, never have, and never will. Yes, there is an integral part of me that cannot relate to any religious dogma or ideology, but that has nothing to do with my being gay.

Where religion and love are seen to be at loggerheads, love is rarely if ever to blame.

PHILANTHROPISTS 

The sky was grey, sea even greyer
as we walked on a beach one summer
excavating layer upon layer
of mixed feelings for one another;
we were in love, on that we agree,
but you saw your relationship with God
under threat and a greater need
for that than nurturing love’s seed

‘God is love, ‘I put it to you in tears,
touching on a wisdom beyond my years,
desperate to allay your worst fears,
sensing I was losing you to The Others;
I tried to convince you with a kiss
that no benign God would begrudge us
a peace of mind and happiness
sullied by secrecy for anxious centuries

I saw your fearful glance at a cloud,
its rage bearing down as if speaking aloud
what others in that ugly crowd
were silently praying to some bigot God;
suddenly, the sun came out to play,
slowly but surely chased the clouds away
as white horses in a sea no longer grey
reared as if saluting us, though we be gay

You saw it as a sign of God’s philanthropy
as I thanked Earth Mother for rescuing me


Copyright R. N. Taber 1966; 2010; 2017

]Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in On the Battlefields of Love by R. N Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]