Perhaps the greatest challenge facing gay men and lesbian women today is overcoming their self-loathing, the result of years of putdowns and ridicule and scorn. Regardless of what we're now told about how our culture has changed, how more accepting it is of gay people--even to the point that some have claimed being gay is no longer an issue--the damage has been done. Millions of gay people have internalized the torment they went through, come to believe that they are unacceptable for being nothing more than who they are, and, today, they hate themselves, whether they realize it or not, which manifests itself in their lives in a myriad of ways. What about them? Society's moved on, but how do we? How do we unlearn everything that's characterized who we are for so many years, and begin to see and believe in our own self-worth? Will we be the last and worst ones to prevent ourselves from being the fully realized people we were born to be?
I think this is true of many, many straight people as well. We all have stuff that has been hard-wired into us - some of it positive and some negative - and it's darn near impossible to wipe the slate clean, so to speak. I know I've asked myself many of the same questions you're asking here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving me important perspective on this, Wendy.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you're absolutely right. Everyone has to deal with negativity that leads to self-loathing, and then we spend the rest of our lives trying to unravel and make peace with it. Maybe that's supposed to be the way of the world, the challenge God puts before us, because, otherwise, how would we ever grow and change and improve and become all we can be? I get so caught up in what it's like to be gay that, often, I don't see the pain we're all in. Something else we all have in common, huh? Gays and straights are even more alike after all.
Thanks again.