She wrote a beautiful poem..
About LGBT rights and acceptance of “alternate” sexuality.
Her readers brought in more to her blog. . all too moved by the poem.
He did too. . kept reading it a couple dozen times with suppressed tears.
And then she wrote in the comments section..
“Btw, just to clarify, I am straight 🙂 :)”
Those sweet smileys burnt him a wee bit..
They pointed out that the “acceptance” was a favor.
That clarification hurt him a wee bit..
It reminded that “inclusion” was a one-way road.
She and her friends would graciously include him in their circle..
But they would never come forward to get included in his “exotic” circle.
He could come out of his closet any day.
They never would come out of theirs..
A pretty, transparent, glass closet..
Key-less..
Only, displayed proudly in the living room!
The Conjecture Girl 
Acceptance, wholesale, is the key 🙂
If only ppl did not assume that a quick-n-easy half-baked acceptance IS the wholesome acceptance.. Then, they forever lose the key and the chance to be wholly accepting.
The operative word is wholesale. Just be.
The key is to erase the concept of acceptance, especially the acceptance which was never asked.
I agree that the concept of acceptance should be erased at a personal level. No person should wait for another to “accept” him/her as he/she is.
But I guess the acceptance that ‘another way of life is as natural as mine, and other ppl are as much normal ppl as me’ needs to be there at a social level. Else, the “us-them” divide would stay forever, and add to the problems?
I understand your point. But think of it like this. I use a blue toothbrush and you use a red one. Do I need to accept the fact that your toothbrush’s colour is not the same as mine? It just is. It doesn’t affect me. My mind does not process it in the “accept it” format. My comment was on similar lines.
I get you. But not many people would actually say “it does not affect me”. It does start affecting you if all the blue toothbrush users collectively and actively make you feel uncomfortable about your red toothbrush, right? Even to the extent of keeping yourself away from them all or hiding the red toothbrush. Indifference, when not available, makes one ask for acceptance.
That ‘disclaimer’ you mention is seen in a lot of posts/articles/opinions by people who claim to fight for the rights of the LGBT population. I mean, it’s not like you see feminist posts saying “Just to clarify I’m male” or something like that. I reckon such clarification is definitely a sign of barriers to complete acceptance. Because if one were to be truly accepting, it wouldn’t matter if others thought of them as homosexual.
Exactly. Answering “I am straight” when asked for the information is completely different from volunteering the ‘clarification’ to avoid being ‘misunderstood’.
Wonderful. I especially like ‘glass closet.’
Great poem.
Thanks 🙂
And welcome to this blog.
Spot on. The need to clarify itself speaks volumes about how people are discriminated against, for what is entirely a very personal choice or natural instinct, that’s nobody’s business. And it’s fear of discrimination that spurs people on clarify. But clarification sort of negates the acceptance.