The Fight Against Gays

       Religious liberty is attempting to make a most unflattering comeback in the United States. Mike Pence, Republican Governor of Indiana, recently signed a Religious Liberty Bill modeled on the former Religious Restoration Act. The bill will legally allow business owners and the like to refuse goods and services to LGBT individuals on the basis of religious freedom. While Pence later went on to “fix” the bill, the fix does not directly apply to religious groups and LGBT individuals are still unprotected by Indiana law. The fix was simply a way to make the bill more palatable to those opposed to it. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia are also in the process of enacting their own Religious Liberty bills, further enhancing the threat to LGBT Americans. The bill in question goes way beyond upholding religious liberty. It allows for discrimination on the grounds of faith. Many religious people argue that they should not be forced to participate in a same-sex wedding or serve same-sex couples and individuals because they believe it is sinful and unnatural. And of course these same people go on to implement the ever popular “it’s say so in the Bible” excuse. Anti-LGBT christians do not want to knowingly aid those of that “lifestyle”. But in what way is discrimination supposedly Christian? Of course no one who supports this bill is willing to admit to what it actually does, that it legally allows someone to discriminate against another person. Of course they deny it. Read the news articles and watch the videos. They cannot outwardly admit to it.

        Interestingly enough, no one is preventing Christians from practicing their faith, going to church, praying, wearing whatever religious garments and accessories they choose to. Yet many still claim that is in fact the Christians who are being discriminated against. However, the Christians are not the ones being denied service, and that is the very important difference of the matter. One cannot infringe upon someone else’s rights, call it religious liberty, and then act as if they are the real victim in question. It is completely unethical. It is also uneconomical. Businesses will only end up losing profit by turning away paying customers on the sole basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Big businesses like Apple will take a stance against states in which the bill is enacted, which will certainly not be a loss for the billion dollar corporation, but rather for the various local Christian-run eateries and flower shops. Hopefully, it is this argument that will turn some heads because apparently money is much more greatly valued than the rights of other people. Needless to say, there are many Christians who strongly disagree with using religion as an excuse for homophobia. However, it is the Anti-LGBT Christians whose voices overpower the non-discriminatory ones.

I’ve Found

*I went to a slam poetry workshop today, and it was absolutely amazing. Anyway, we had to do an exercise in which we started to write a poem, and after a couple of seconds, random words were thrown at us that we had to immediately incorporate into our pieces. It was very strange, but I suggest this activity to anyone, poet or not. 

I’ve found that the beautiful and the untamed go hand in hand, their fingers laced and intertwined.

I’ve found the darkness reach the sentiments of my own heart, its genuine history developing a new connection.

I’ve found that love can take many speed bumps, or heart can take the logic away from the level head.

I’ve found that Georgia is a lovely state, with mean and funky twangs described as accents infusing a different dialect.

I’ve found that dictionaries are very thick, the pages close together filled with words upon words that nobody knows.

I’ve found open spaces develop between the queen of my heart, the gaps empty and statistical.

I’ve found that dreaming is a simple task, but one with an elemental purpose, its use abundant and homeward-bound.

I’ve found that once I fell in love, my interpreting colors as signs, my brain unadulterated.

I’ve found that reason is not good enough when wibbly wobbly feelings are fleeting away.

I’ve found that hawk eyes look strange in the daylight, they mangle in the resemblance of my yesteryears, churning away at my

insides, their nitpicking voices cheering.

I’ve found that antibiotics don’t really work when your brain is sick, chiding away at your conscious, its comebacks unamusing.

I’ve found that  wrongs can make great rights if you spin the details a little.