Winning Hearts and Minds OR Confounding the Bigots

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

Fortunately, there are more people in the world with open hearts and minds than most socio-cultural-religious bigots would care to admit.

Of course, we will never win over everyone to an enlightened view of same sex relationships. The hope is, as history suggests, that even in those societies where obsessive, repressive, leaders continue to undermine and threaten our personal and public freedom, gay men and women are likely (in time) to win the war, transgender folks too

WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS  or CONFOUNDING THE BIGOTS

Branded a child of Satan

(just for being gay)

I felt myself drowning in sin

but (finally) managed

to master the breaststroke

and swim away

to a (far) safer, kinder, shore

where the bigots

can have their say (of course)

but any person

of any colour, creed, sex

or sexuality

is more likely to take a pride

in a humanity sworn

to uphold the finer principles

of true democracy

Declared a child of Satan

by ‘betters’ who know

no better (it’s their nature)

than hounding folks

left free by (far) better people

than they to walk down

everyday streets anywhere

without anyone turning

to stare or pointing the finger

at how I walk, talk, dress,

don’t even practise a religion,

invariably given to mean

no sense of everyday propriety

or even spirituality,

presumably a suspect sexuality,

but not necessarily…

Copyright R., N. Taber 2014