Celebrating Sexuality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

It has been a struggle for many of us gay men and women around the world to assert ourselves among an intrinsically homophobic heterosexual majority; for many others, the struggle continues while various socio-cultural-religious 'betters' continue to hound  as many of us as they can into a closet life by convincing them that homosexuality and transgender are an offence against the God of Love they profess to serve. 


I had decided by the time I was 14 years-old that not only was I gay, but also religion was not for me, and turned to Earth Mother. It was the right decision for me, but I would say to anyone in the worldwide LGBT community that religion and sexuality are not incompatible; over the years, it has been my pleasure and privilege to meet a significant number of religious people - of all faiths - who refuse to believe that any God of Love would turn His (or Her) back on anyone. It has also been my personal experience that many religious leaders will say one thing to the media and another to their congregations.
Gay, straight or transgender, our sexuality is an essential part of our whole identity; as I have said many times, it is the whole that counts. There is every cause to celebrate and feel confident about the contribution our sexuality makes to who we are.  (It is perhaps  worth noting that the vast majority of gay-friendly straight guys feel self-assured enough in their sexuality not to feel either hostile towards or threatened by gay men.)  

Those of us who have managed to rise above many of the problems imposed on us due to our sexuality have good cause to celebrate. Indeed, sexuality itself is cause for celebration since it is an integral part of who we are and everyone is entitled to celebrate his or her identity; our sexual identity is every bit as important as any sense of social, cultural, religious or political identity if not more so for its being a natural part of who we are as opposed to being driven by external forces which, more often than not, have ulterior motives.

CELEBRATING SEXUALITY 

Forget the lonely years

of coming to terms

with who we are and the pain

of ‘Coming Out’

Let’s celebrate

Love is a precious thing

(who can ever forget?)

nor the love of two gay people

any less so for that

Let’s celebrate

There will always be some

left failing to reason out

a gay person’s lot? - well, yes,

but so what?

Let’s celebrate

If life and love don’t

always work out

as we hope?  Well, life’s like that,

gay or straight

Let’s celebrate

Congratulations to gay men

and women everywhere,

nor bisexual or transgender folks

shall we forget

Let’s celebrate

Our sexuality does us proud,

and love is what life’s

all about, though sometimes

we come to it late

Let’s celebrate

What the heck? We are who

we are, and proud of it;

the world can take us or leave

us for that

Let’s celebrate

It’s so good to be - alive!

Let no one say different,

and if they do the chances are

they’re not…

Copyright R. N. Taber 2014

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