Times R Changin'

http://www.eurweb.com/2012/07/anderson-cooper-officially-comes-out/

I am very grateful that we're living in a time when the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered (LGBT)  community can live openly and are protected by the nation's laws.

I have long voiced my opinion on this subject.  It would be a travesty if I indicated, in any way, that being LGBT was anything less than what I am - straight.  Luckily for me, I have had examples of straight family members and friends who, being open to their own examination of the world and not simply desiring to see through the lens of what they'd been taught, reconsidered their old views and perspectives and adopted something new.  It wasn't always necessarily where I was, but they moved a bit....sometimes substantially....and sometimes right by me!  And, in some cases, I was there with them from the start, talking it through.  What I have discovered is that by opening up to more folks - even in my Deep South hometown - I have found clear examples of people from my generation and older generations who actually support the LGBT community and their rights.  It's a powerful thing when parents, friends and a wider community add their voices!  It certainly takes moral courage.

I think about the folks who challenged my preconceived notions and ingrained ideas, ultimately encouraging me to ask questions and explore more.  Truth be told, my views changed more gradually than I would have liked.  The last bit of negative feelings towards homosexuality that was still in me was not discarded until my early thirties.  Although I put up a bit of a fight, the cognitive dissonance that had consumed me for some time ultimately made me change course.  A big, big turning point was just sitting down face-to-face with members of the LGBT community and just listening to them and suspending my judgment.  Someday I intend to complete a book I am working on pertaining to this very subject.  How did I, as a white, straight male, raised Southern Baptist, get to this point, and what advice could I give to others?

As a reader of history, I think about those people in slave society who defied the law by teaching slaves to read or smuggling them to free states.  I also think of Southern white ladies in the Antebellum South who were so repulsed by slavery that they moved away and became strong abolitionist voices.  I think of early Evangelicals and Quakers in North Carolina who opposed slavery and fighting in wars.  Of course, I think of women's rights, and the laws in a patriarchal society that considered women to be second-class at best - not fit to vote, or be educated or own anything.  Some brave souls back then took a stand.  I too take a stand:  I stand together with my family members (from the current generation and on back) who are something besides straight, and I'm grateful for the ones who have felt comfortable and confident enough to acknowledge this (at least to me) and be true to themselves.

Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892--1984) made this statement about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power.  I added the highlighted bit.

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I am not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I am not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I am not a Jew.
Then they came for the homosexuals, and I didn't speak up because I am not a homosexual.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me.