CHAPTER VI: THE BIRDS AND THE OH PULEEEZE

"Dylan?"
"Yes, my little Italian cherub?"
"Yeh right."
"Yup."
"Again I say, Dylan?
"Yes, my little..."
"Please stop."
"Ok."
"Dylan, do you think we're going to Hell?"
"Not today. Too warm."
"I am serious."
"Me too. Funny though, I thought we were going to go yesterday, but then no."
"No you're not being serious."
"Yes I am but okay. Why do you ask?"
"Cause. well...you know. Me and Chip and you and Charlie."
"So what about us?"
"Do you think we're going to Hell cause we're with other dudes?"
"NO."
"Ok."
"Case closed," and why I said that I have NO idea cause I knew it wasn't. I know Frankie only too well. Like me unfortunately, he has that inquisitive nature. The wondering mind. The adventurous spirit. The DAMNED FUCKING NOT KNOWING, and needing to know and...you know.

"Um, why?" he said, relentlessly.
"Why what?" said I with frustration creeping in.
"Why did you say no?"
"Cause Buttercup, from everything I know it is not conceivable."
"Why?"

Let me ask you something...

does it ever strike you that one of the most WONDERFUL...SLASH...ANNOYING WORDS in the
English language is that little itty bitty three-letter word, WHYYYYYYY? (That's more than three isn't it. So sue me. WELL IT IS. It opens the door one minute and then it just bugs the shit out of you the next.)

"Cause that would mean God was turning His back on His own creation and I don't think He would ever do that."
"Oh."

Pause.

"Um..."
Fume.

"Now what?"
"Well, ok. What you mean by that?"
"You're Catholic."
"Yeh, so?"
"Well I am not but one thing I do know is that both our religions teach that God is love, that he created us out of his love. JUST as we are. Height, weight, gender, dick size (ahem), and orientation among other things. LOTS of other things too like eye color and brain power and all that. So if that is true and I believe it is, then how could God then look at us just because we are gay especially when He knows he made us this way, and go...BAAAAD BOYS....OH SUCH BAAAAD Boys...no. You don't just create something and then immediately hate it cause it is exactly what you created.

Uh uh. It doesn't work that way. Either He created us as we are or He didn't. I believe He DID. Period. See?"

"Yeh, ok, but..."

Sigh.
"Frankie, aren't you a tad old for the birds and the bees talk? More like the Birds and the OH PULEEZE talk."
"Yeh, but no."
"Are you sure you're Italian? I thought all Italians just fuck and never think too much about it."
"We think."
"We think therefore we do?"
"Something like that."
"Hmmm. So why all this pondering all of a sudden?"
"I dunno. Just wondering I guess,"
and that was the last of that conversation at least for awhile.

But I do believe what I told him. Way too much condemnation has been handed down over the centuries by the religious, the pious, and the haters. If you aren't JUST LIKE WE ARE...and don't believe JUST LIKE WE DO AND TO THE T, then YOU dear sir or madame are HELL-BOUND. Please get your tickets and all aboard please.

NO. God said and I believe He meant what He said that he created the heavens, the earth, and ALL that therein is...and I don't think He makes too many mistakes. Ok there was that one time when He created YOU, but other than that...

There are gay people and there have been since the foundation of time, God's time, so if He didn't make us WHO DID? LUCIFER? NO. Lucifer is a distorter but incapable of creating on his own.

Someone else? Well, after thousands of years nobody else has stepped forward to take credit so I guess not. Trust me. From what I know about human nature and the fallen nature of man, NOBODY and I do mean NOBODY, NO ENTITY worthy of the name would have created an entire subset of humanity and not been CREAMING HIS JEANS to brag about it. Not hardly. Nope, He whoever he was or is would have busted a gut making sure the rest of us knew what he had done. But that hasn't happened, SO?

No. God did all the creation stuff...and again He doesn't make mistakes and all the homophobia in the world and all the hate that spews out of the mouths of all the religious bigots on the planet past and present...doesn't change that fact. Those who decry homosexuals decry the creation of God and in the end I don't think He is going to be real pleased, in the end. YOUR end.

The Scriptures usually associated with homophobia were referring to Roman Law, and not God's Law. God is Love. The Romans were many things but governments are not by nature loving. So that is out.

Hate is also not innate. Hate is a learned emotion and not a part of creation. So parents teach children, pastors teach their flocks to hate, and it gets perpetuated in society as things often do. It becomes a part of history and the histrionics surrounding homophobia are especially disconcerting basically since it is so mindless and senseless and so easily disproved. It also seems to be usually associated with a paranoia about sex in general. Prudism or more accurately Puritanism. not to mention ignorance and fear.

Such as what happened to the Middle East during the British reign. The Brits were under a Puritanical hierarchy at the time but later sent that packing. Unfortunately a lot of the Middle East didn't and there are still Muslim Clerics who have discovered that homophobia is a GREAT way to divide and manipulate and control people. So they do. They use it as a tool to try to exert control by demoralizing and dividing people.

This much is true. Orientation is of God, it is not learned behavior no matter the naysayers to the contrary. We now know Scientifically what we have really always known. People are born with the orientation they have and that is that. Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual. Don't matter. You didn't wake up one morning and decide..."HEY, I think I'll be gay today," and then it felt so good you decided to 'STAY THE GAY.' Trust me, for most of history the life of someone who is gay has been met with so much hate and derision that nobody in their right mind would ever CHOOSE to be gay or Lesbian and even less so bisexual. So that doesn't and never has made any sense whatsoever.

SO what I told Frankie I believe and I think the evidence is clear. You are gay? YOU ARE GAY. PERIOD. End of discussion. NOT the end of the story but a part of it certainly.

"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." 

Genesis 1King James Version (KJV)

Funny thing about orientation. That should be one of the LEAST interesting things about you. Honest. You are SO MUCH MORE than your orientation it ain't funny. So, once you get down with which one YOU are... JUST LIVE LIFE. The rest will come naturally. Anyone doesn't like you for who you are, who gives a fuck. It's YOUR life. Sorry, and I know it is hard but even if it is your own family who doesn't accept you for WHO YOU ARE, THAT IS THEIR LOSS. NOT YOURS. They may come around eventually but maybe not. Either way, you have to be true to YOU, NOT to them. Period. In time you will be much happier not trying to live your life for their approval, but your own.

I am not sure, but I think that maybe THIS is why I became a Psychologist. Yep...studied Psych and Behavioral Science etc at Stanford and Charlie did too, and we have gone into practice together...specializing in teens and their being LGBT and such. It is rewarding and we both want so much to make a difference. But I get ahead of myself. Sorry.

_____________________________________________________________
CONTINUE TO CHAPTER VII