to define a man by red the mod

The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.
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Rollo May

To come out is to claim it. To profess with little regard, and even with brash pride, the disagreement of our preference with the norm. But to do so would entail that the norm is absolute, or that to be normal is aspirational. The precept of free will is its inherent acceptance, albeit embracing, of individualism. It is no less human to be homosexual than it is to be heterosexual. In fact, both could be disruptive and impeding in certain circumstances. What is absolute is emotion, feeling, and attraction. The ability of one to feel for, and of, another. This makes him human. And whether that someone is of the same sex is inconsequential.

Gender is a conception. A method and a label. A mere tool to create order, and by thus making the idea of it easily comprehensible. But where labels fail is when society defines the semiotics of these labels. Thus leading to discrimination, and bigotry. To come out and claim this label is to subject oneself to the connotations it encloses. So to say that I am gay is conceding to a misnomer, and a misconception. To belie the fact that I am much more than the preference I consume. Much, much more. I'm not a heterosexual, true, but I am also not just a homosexual.

The facets of a gem do not define its brilliance.

I am not compelled to profess it. Is there a need to? But if asked, my honesty would be provided. But I refuse to be simplified into a word without dimension. I am a myriad of things, none by any far capacity can fully expound on my totality. I am a mind, and a heart, a psyche and a body, I am my beliefs, and passions, my talents and my actions. I am a man, who just happens to fancy other men.

In a perfect world, the capacity to love, or simply attraction, should be enough. But we do not inhabit a perfect world, and to long for a utopian reality is a fodder all human beings pine for, in the spectrum of both homosexual and heterosexual inclinations. Who is to say that our discrimination is any greater, or more absolute, than those of others? We are beings of thought, and to believe that perfection, total acceptance, is achievable in this lifetime is akin to saying that we can undo the wreckage of our race on the environment in the very same breathe. We can't.

But we can choose to live our lives with the decency of our own humanity.



Image from here.


by red the mod