Getting Ready for Pride 2024
As Hal and I grow older, Pride takes on new meaning for us. I am 60, and Hal is 70. We spent most of our lives in the closet or the shadows because society hadn't evolved enough for us to be included as equals. Sadly, in so many people's eyes, they will never allow that to happen. Hatred and intolerance are on the rise again, fueled by their eternal combustible inflammatory agent called religion. Religion stands for nothing more than the demand to divide, ostracize, discriminate, harm, and kill those who don't fit in. Religion fools people into believing that their freedom to persecute outweighs the fundamental human rights of everyone to live a safe and happy life free from persecution.
2024 is a year that presents great danger for our community. I watched a History Channel documentary in which a Holocaust survivor talked about how many laws were passed to ostracize and persecute the Jews in Germany in the 1930s by the Nazis, and I felt a sense of impending dread. The similarities are striking compared to today with the Republican/Trump party. I have referred to Republicans as Nazis ever since Reagan because tolerance is something that they are incapable of. Their hatred of the LGBTQIA community has only increased with the inclusion of the most toxic ingredient of all: religion.
I became an Atheist as an adult after seeing religion become nothing more than a tool for persecuting anyone who differs from their narrow-minded beliefs. I hear about all the Christians who say, "We're not all like that," but those people are never around to protest when the religious hate train gets rolling. That marked the point where I disassociated myself from religion altogether. Why should I embrace any group that prefers that I not exist at all?
Hal and I are old enough to remember the old persecution, but so many younger people have never experienced it firsthand, so they consider me an alarmist. That is their privilege because of those of us who fought and suffered to provide that right. They are optimistic that things will only get better, but I caution them that they need to see what is happening around them before making such blanket statements. I cannot come to a place of comfort with how things are happening today. A sinister danger lurks in plain sight, but people want to ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist.
Hal and I are too old to go to the parades and events. I can't walk any distance, which restricts my activities. Add to that the fear that some religious lunatic will show up with a gun and try to do "God's work" by killing innocent people, and we are better off staying at home. There have been too many examples of this type of lunatic behavior in the past ten years. While I appreciate the sentiment that we cannot hide and must be seen to be accepted, I am too old for that anymore. Let the younger generation take the baton in the race for equality. I wish them well.