A few weeks ago I attended a crusade in which the pastor made some homosexual comments that were a reflection of the society in which I live in. I live in the West Indies in a twin island nation called Trinidad and Tobago. If any of you have travelled to the Caribbean you may know that the population is generally not very liberal where homosexuality is concerned. The pastor’s words really upset me, and I told my online gay church family about it (a site dedicated to same sex attraction people like me who belong to my religious denomination). They were upset right along with me and one of my friends advised me to write the pastor about his comments. At first I thought to myself ‘me speak up?? Not me!!’ But after awhile I decided to and I did. I had the letter hand delivered to the pastor and in it I included one of my email addresses and invited him to write me. I posted a copy of the letter on my gay church site and my family there all supported my words. To date the pastor has not written me online, and I don’t believe he will. Even though he does not it felt liberating to speak my heart to him. Even though I am in the closet and have NO plans of coming out, at least not while I live in my homeland. It was important to point out to a hetero someone else how their thoughtless words can harm others who struggle with inner sexuality turmoil.
Those of you who live in England, (a country I have visited many times because my special lady lives there) or other countries where homosexual folks fight for rights, and get some of them must always be appreciative of the blessings you have to be able to live where you do. Because there are other people who live in countries that the funniest joke you can tell in public is the ‘gay’ joke. There are countries where gay bashing is not even seen as gay bashing but looked at as natural way to refer to ‘those type of people’.
For folks like me who live in these physically and geographically beautiful country islands coming out is not something one does. People may suspect but confirming their suspicion is not really done.
Fri May 20, 2011 5:55 pm
MysteryGirl Moderators
Joined: 02 Jun 2007
Posts: 3419
Location: I come from a land downunder
Thanks Aidyl for giving us some insight into what people in less liberal countries endure. Sometimes, in AUstralia, when I am deploring the Government's attitude on gay marriage, I forget that we have a whole raft of lawa that protect GLBTIQ people from abuse in the community and workplace and also grant same sex couples all the same rights as defacto hetero couples.
I admire your bravery in speaking up to the pastor via letter. Well done.
HugZ MG _________________ Be yourself.............everybody else is taken!
Fri May 20, 2011 11:47 pm
aidyl
Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 173
Location: Trinidad
Thanks
Fri May 20, 2011 11:49 pm
Tracey
Joined: 30 Dec 2005
Posts: 1489
Location: Ayr, Scotland
well done Aidyl for writing to that pastor
hopefully it has made him rethink
i also understand the problems you have in an anti-gay country
i had a online gf years ago on here, she is in egypt and was so scared of her family and others finding out she was gay as they would of killed her
therefore i never saw her picture and we split up after 5 months. though i do still think of her now and then and wonder how she is getting on
i wish all the countries of the world would be gay friendly
hugs
Tracey _________________ I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here.
sometimes i wonder... ' why is that frisbee getting bigger'... and then it hits me
Sat May 21, 2011 8:19 am
aidyl
Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 173
Location: Trinidad
Hi Tracey
Hope the Egyptian lady came to no harm. No one will get killed in my country for being gay. Do not want to be politically incorrect but Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is not a Muslim country. When it comes to free 'sexual expression' all over the place I think we are right up there with other ‘free’ countries. I say this because we have a high HIV/AIDS rating. And if you check the internet under Trinidad Carnival you will see that my people do not have a lot of inhibitions during Carnival time. All that said for some reason after the Carnival partying is over and everyone is back to day to day living no one wants to be labeled ‘gay’. So it becomes easy to make the gay person the subject of jokes. I remember a couple months ago a conversation in my staff room at work, the topic of gay boys came up. One male teacher said ‘you must not put body powder on little boys because it makes them girly’, then the same teacher went on to say with a lot of conviction that you must ‘nip it in the bud this entire homo thing so the boy will not end up a homo, make him go play football and cricket etc’. To this pronouncement he received verbal support from other staff members. Now bear in mind the staff are well education folks who are generally a kind hearted group of people. If they look at homosexuality as something you can break out of at an early age what about the average man/woman in the street who does not have tertiary education, can you see how their opinion of a homosexual is no different? No one wants their child to be associating with a suspected gay youth because their child may get contaminated.
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