http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
[Update: March 25 2018]: A young gay man recently emailed me to ask how he can live with himself for being gay when his religion also means everything to him? Well, i am not a religious person myself but I am no fool, either, and only a fool would honestly believe that God is a homophobe. Whatever a person's religion, its Holy Books preach peace and love, not bigotry. I have also had emails telling me I am naive to think this way, but we must agree to differ. To any young man or woman who knows, at heart, they are gay. I say don't let your religion prevent you from living your life as you want.need to live it. God is not your enemy, no matter how hard religious dogma may try to persuade you otherwise. I only know this young man as 'Michael' and do not have an email address for him as he made contact via the Comments box but please feel free to get in touch again should you feel the need. As regular readers well know, I don't post comments, but always read them and will always reply if you include an e-address; mine, as the blog heading is rogertab@aol.com.]
Meanwhile...
Some time ago, a gay friend and I were chased by three young homophobic thugs on our way home after a pleasant evening out. We escaped unhurt but I could so easily be telling a very different tale.
I have met many gay men who have been scarred for life (physically and/ or emotionally) by homophobic attacks. It is worse than being mugged, although the results can be as bad. The reason I say this (having been the victim of both) is because a homophobic attack is so much more personal. A mugger is after what we have by way of cash, etc. but a homophobe actively hates his (or her) perception of who we ARE.
Although we cannot always avoid the various slings and arrows of the world’s homophobes, we dare not let these pathetic specimens of humankind get the upper hand… nor will we, though they be found in all corners of all societies.
Those readers who email from time to time to ask why I am living in a time warp would do well to remember that in some societies being gay is still punishable by imprisonment, even death.
As for the free(er)West, a person's freedom to be openly gay invariably depends on whether or not not he or she happens to be living in a gay-friendly home/school/work environment. This blog tries to encourage all gay men and women, boys and girls, to feel GOOD about themselves.
"For why is all around us here
As if some lesser god had made the world,
But had not force to shape it as he would?"
Alfred Lord Tennyson [Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur]
CHILDREN OF NO LESSER GOD
It was the hour of midnight cats;
out of the shadows they came,
waving bottles and baseball bats,
homophobes by any other name
We ran. No sanctuary in the park.
Frantic calls on mobile phones,
aware of the chilling dark poised
to rake over our flesh and bones
They caught us, brought us down
on wet grass spewing up a din;
bats, boots, cheers and flick knives
raking a terrible pain over the skin
Help arrived so the thugs ran away,
their hoots of laughter in the wind
a drumming in the ears come to play
another of life’s battles to its end
The homophobe fights a greater fear
than attacks gay people world over,
long hidden scars as sure to reappear
as a vulnerability gone undercover
Poor fools, attacking human sexuality
for fear of relating to its humanity
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2013
[Note: This poem has been slightly revised (2013) from an earlier version as it appears in On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]
[Update: March 25 2018]: A young gay man recently emailed me to ask how he can live with himself for being gay when his religion also means everything to him? Well, i am not a religious person myself but I am no fool, either, and only a fool would honestly believe that God is a homophobe. Whatever a person's religion, its Holy Books preach peace and love, not bigotry. I have also had emails telling me I am naive to think this way, but we must agree to differ. To any young man or woman who knows, at heart, they are gay. I say don't let your religion prevent you from living your life as you want.need to live it. God is not your enemy, no matter how hard religious dogma may try to persuade you otherwise. I only know this young man as 'Michael' and do not have an email address for him as he made contact via the Comments box but please feel free to get in touch again should you feel the need. As regular readers well know, I don't post comments, but always read them and will always reply if you include an e-address; mine, as the blog heading is rogertab@aol.com.]
Meanwhile...
Some time ago, a gay friend and I were chased by three young homophobic thugs on our way home after a pleasant evening out. We escaped unhurt but I could so easily be telling a very different tale.
I have met many gay men who have been scarred for life (physically and/ or emotionally) by homophobic attacks. It is worse than being mugged, although the results can be as bad. The reason I say this (having been the victim of both) is because a homophobic attack is so much more personal. A mugger is after what we have by way of cash, etc. but a homophobe actively hates his (or her) perception of who we ARE.
Although we cannot always avoid the various slings and arrows of the world’s homophobes, we dare not let these pathetic specimens of humankind get the upper hand… nor will we, though they be found in all corners of all societies.
Those readers who email from time to time to ask why I am living in a time warp would do well to remember that in some societies being gay is still punishable by imprisonment, even death.
As for the free(er)West, a person's freedom to be openly gay invariably depends on whether or not not he or she happens to be living in a gay-friendly home/school/work environment. This blog tries to encourage all gay men and women, boys and girls, to feel GOOD about themselves.
"For why is all around us here
As if some lesser god had made the world,
But had not force to shape it as he would?"
Alfred Lord Tennyson [Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur]
CHILDREN OF NO LESSER GOD
It was the hour of midnight cats;
out of the shadows they came,
waving bottles and baseball bats,
homophobes by any other name
We ran. No sanctuary in the park.
Frantic calls on mobile phones,
aware of the chilling dark poised
to rake over our flesh and bones
They caught us, brought us down
on wet grass spewing up a din;
bats, boots, cheers and flick knives
raking a terrible pain over the skin
Help arrived so the thugs ran away,
their hoots of laughter in the wind
a drumming in the ears come to play
another of life’s battles to its end
The homophobe fights a greater fear
than attacks gay people world over,
long hidden scars as sure to reappear
as a vulnerability gone undercover
Poor fools, attacking human sexuality
for fear of relating to its humanity
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2013
[Note: This poem has been slightly revised (2013) from an earlier version as it appears in On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]
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