So, it has taken me a week or so to get around to this
post. What can I say, it has been a busy
week. Recently, some of the girls I have
met in Washington and myself went to the Equality Festival in Olympia that was
hosted by Capital City Pride. The slogan for this year was, “Celebrate
Community, Defend Equality.” I have been
to some pride festivals before and was at first hesitant to take my children as
they can be a little racy. However, this
one was specifically geared towards families, so I wasn’t as worried about my
children seeing anything inappropriate.
The festival was several days and we ended up going on Saturday for the
festival fun and then again on Sunday for the parade. We had so much fun and for me personally, it
was a great place for my children to be, to see so many people united,
accepting and just getting along in general.
I know everyone has their own views on festivals of this
nature and homosexuality. Me
personally, I don’t have an issue with it at all, so I will go ahead and put
that out there. I honestly think love is
love is love and as long as it is pure of heart, then more power to you. However,
to each their own as far as their opinions.
I know that my personal beliefs don’t necessarily jive with a lot of
mainstream Christian thoughts. That said, I don’t want this to come across as a
big political and/or religious post, but more about what I feel it is important to expose my
children to and the kind of people I hope they become in the future. It is
about the parent I need to be for myself and the things I feel it is important
for my children to know. I don’t need to
debate you on how I feel if you have a difference of opinion. I will respect your right to your opinion, so
long as you respect mine.
It was really interesting because when we first decided to
go to the festival, I really didn’t think I would even have to talk to Lila
about it before hand. I really didn’t
think she would even think anything about it if she did see couples of the same
sex at the festival as we have friends that are homosexual. However, just a few days before the event,
she asked me what the word “gay” meant on the way to school. Apparently, the boys at school were telling her
that Justin Bieber was gay and she was clueless as to what it meant. So, I talked to her openly and very frankly
about the subject. I used our friends up
here that are homosexual as an example.
While I was worried about a huge conversation and lots of questions, it
really wasn’t even much of a blip on her radar and when I asked her what she
thought she would say the next time someone said something like that, her
response was, “So what if he is? BIG
DEAL.” I have to say, the pride I felt
in my child at that moment is indescribably.
I know that one day, she will have to make her own decisions about how
she feels on a whole lot of subjects, but the one thing I hope I can do as a
parent is make sure she knows that despite her opinions and beliefs, it is
NEVER okay to be ugly to someone because they don’t believe the same
thing. She knows I won’t tolerate
bullying in any way, shape or form. Later in the week before the festival we
also talked about the point of the festival and I explained that some people
don’t think that people of the same sex should be married and that while
everyone has the right to their own opinion, that is not the way that her mommy
felt, but that she would have to make her own decision about how she felt. I explained to her that while Mommy and Daddy
are married, our friends that are gay can’t get married. Her response, “Well, that doesn’t seem very
fair.” Once again, I have immense pride
for that precious, special, loving child of mine. Sometimes, I think we would
all be better off if we took more of our cues from children. Oh yeah, as a side note, after learning the
multiple meanings of the word gay, she came home from school and told me that
when she had to write a story during school that day, she wrote, “I am gay. (dramatic
pause) Oh yeah, gay means happy.” HA
HA. I am sure she did it purely for
shock value, because after all, she is her mother’s child.
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| My friend Jen's son who is too adorable for words. |
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| So, this guy was super scary, but the kids scared him more than he scared them. Every time they came close, he showed his fangs, hissed and hid behind is feathers. |
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| Collis' Face Paint |
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| Lila's Face Paint |
The festival was a blast!
I made t-shirts for us that said, “Got Equality?” and had the rainbow flag colors in a stripe
below. Lila had the choice whether to
wear one as I didn’t want to feel like I was using her to make a
statement. She chose to wear one, much to
my continued pride. At the festival, they
had face painting, balloons, candy galore, live music, a beer/wine garden and
so much more. The kids loved every
minute of it, especially getting their faces painted. There was this one, perfect moment on
Saturday that I wish I could really express in pictures and words. We were sitting on the grass listening to the
music, the kids running around playing, sun shining and a girl came on singing
a slower song. The rainbow flags were flapping in the breeze and people started
blowing bubbles. As I looked around, it
was this perfect moment of harmony and I felt tears coming to my eyes. At that moment, it wasn’t about anything else
other than people of so many different cultures and lifestyles, coming together
in perfect harmony. I couldn’t help but
think to myself that I wished that my children could grow up in a world that
was like that all the time, where everyone was so accepting of each other. It was one of those moment s in life that
will stick with me a long time.
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| Bubbles. I had the camera on auto-focus, so it didn't get the bubbles as clear as I wished. |
On Sunday, we went back for the parade and once again, I
found myself inspired and amazed. The
first several groups in the parade were high school “Equality Clubs” and “Gay-Straight”
alliances. There were also a bunch of
church groups marching in the parade who were all about acceptance. I sat there and though about how far we have
come and I got teary-eyed yet again.
While we still have a long way to go, we have made huge strides since
even I was in high school. I know we
still have a long way to go, but I am hopeful that I will continue to see a
more accepting world in my lifetime and definitely in the lives of my children.
For me personally, it isn’t just about accepting homosexuality, but about
working toward being more accepting of all of our differences. As MLK, Jr.,
said, “I have a dream…”
I know that it may seem as I have been talking a lot more
about my personal beliefs on things like homosexuality. It seems as if I have reached a point in my
life where I can no longer be quiet about things that matter to me. I found another quote from MLK, Jr., that
sums up how I feel.
