Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Narrow Streets, Narrow Minds

Taylor and Alexis live in a small town of roughly 1,000 people. The town can be driven in one mile and has a railroad that is parallel to the road you travel on. The town's people are just as narrow-minded as the street that guides you through it. Taylor and Alexis both come from big families and hope to have one of their own someday. They share a loft above the local market that Taylor's father happens to own. Their home smells of fresh fruit because they are given free produce from the market before it goes bad. They both have full time jobs, like most successful young couples who are saving for a life together. They both hold jobs serving their state and community. Taylor is a high school English teacher who volunteers at every school dance, fundraiser and meeting. Alexis is a supervisor in the Traffic Engineering Department of the local state office.

They both are members of their local Baptist church and attend every Sunday morning and Wednesday night. They walk into church from the back, down the isle to the corner on the right where they sit every visit. Eyes meet them each and every time they walk in as if they're walking down the isle in marriage, which they will never be able to do. The room goes from quiet to a room filled with mumbles and whispers like clockwork until they reach their seats. Sitting in the front they feel the eyes of the people that glare at them from behind as they feel out of place, like new comers in town. Through the laughs and the whispers and stares they think to themselves, "This is church and they say only God can judge, right?" Alexis and Taylor are both females who are not able to marry in the very church they pray in each Sunday. They volunteer their time at church plays and events, but do so separately because it is frowned upon they be together. They are members of the community and do more for it than the ones who make them feel unwanted. They are never invited to community or church activities. They are denied the right to marry, but also denied the comfort and safety of their community.

They are just like every other couple; better in some ways. They've started a college fund for their children that they may not be able to adopt and most children of male/female relationships do not even have college funds. Their house is paid off and they donate money to the church that can do nothing for them in return.

How can you be so unwanted in a town that you do so much for? How would you feel if you couldn't go to church or the grocery store without being stared at and talked about by your neighbors? How would you feel if you were denied the right to marry because your partner wasn't of the opposite sex?
How can you treat people differently because of who they choose to love? How would you feel if every single day was a fight for what you wanted? How would you feel if the easiest feeling in the world, to love, was challenged simply because of who you choose to be with?

Imagine...
-not being able to be yourself with your family because you are scared they may not accept who you are.
-being afraid to go to school or work everyday because your co-workers or other students treat you badly.
-being kicked out of your home because of the person you choose to love.
-being judged by others, not by your character, but by your sexuality.
-being fired from a job or kicked out of a team or group because they do not accept you.
-thinking you have no one to turn to
-being alone in a world that is against you.


No comments:

Post a Comment