Why I Am the Way I Am
Why do I care so much about human rights?
Because of my mother, of course.
I mean this quite literally. The first time I remember hearing anything about civil rights that really made me think, and one of the defining moments in my upbringing, was when my brother and I were sitting on the couch, watching the Rosie O’Donnell Show and giggling at the news that Rosie O’Donnell had just come out as a lesbian. My mom came down and sat next to us and asked us what we were giggling about. We told her and she said: “So?” We didn’t have an answer, but she continued: “Does this mean she is any different today than she was yesterday? Does it mean we will stop watching her show?” All we could respond was: “No.” I felt so bad for laughing. I was too young to even understand what I was laughing about, but I knew enough to know that I should have felt bad.
And thus, my passion for civil rights was born.
Do you have a moment like this that made you more aware of civil rights? Please share!
I was raised in a family where diversity and love for other cultures was a way of life….for the women in my family. The men, were, uh, a little right of center. I was nine years old and watching Sunday NFL football with my dad and brothers when Dion Sanders made a crazy 99 yard run. My dad yelled something extremely inappropriate regarding the player’s ethnicity, to which my mother seemingly appeared from nowhere, cracked a dish towel over his head locker room style and stated, “That will never be used in my house, in front of my children again. Are we clear?” EVERYBODY was clear. Crystal clear. I didn’t hear the word again until I was at college.
Pingback:uberVU - social comments
I remember that my family did stop watching Rosie O’Donnell after that. I was taught that homosexuality was a choice and a sin. My perspective didn’t shift until I made gay friends in high school. When our production of the Laramie Project got shut down, it scared me to see how intolerant the general community was. So even though I had personally become completely accepting, I still never really wanted to broadcast that view. Collin’s performance of the Laramie Project at Western (I wish I could have seen him!) has given me the confidence to try to go out into the community and make a difference. Wednesday is my first GLOW (Gay, Lesbian, Or Whatever) meeting. I’ll let you know how it goes! 🙂
(What does it say about me that the first thing I thought of when I read this was, “Sheesh, I was out of college when Rosie came out… HOW OLD AM I??” 😛 )
Living in Texas I hear a lot about immigration and “the illegals.” People have no qualms speaking their bigoted minds when you look just as “white” as they do and don’t speak English with an accent… I’m an immigrant myself, but nobody asks me where my papers are. Why do I have a right to be here but someone else, born much closer to “the border” than I, doesn’t?