I talked to my biological father (bio-dad) for about an hour yesterday. I called to find out if Boots the Bottom Hoe was a character in Iceberg Slim's Pimp or Donald Goines' Whoreson (we think she was in Whoreson) and we ended up talking about a bunch of other shit... Mostly we talked about issues that come from him being this huge conservative... Turns out his transformation from a young hood nigga to an old white man is complete. Somehow we got on the topic of gays in the military. Sigh...
A little backstory... My dad hasn't always been a homo hater. He hasn't always had this disdain for any- and everything involving homosexuality. When In & Out came out, he loved it. He quoted from it. He laughed when I teased him about being gay. Somewhere along the way someone hit a switch in his head and a little jerk inside started saying "haaaate the gaaaays, lamooonte..." We end up talking about homosexuals a lot because he lives in the Bay Area and it pops up a lot for him. He's against gay marriage because he "doesn't want his son learning about gay sex in school." Gay sex is "gross." He doesn't think they should be allowed to have the Pride Parade. He won't watch Milk. I'm sure he hasn't seen Brokeback Mountain.
I'm not really a liberal. The Bay Area is kind of overly sensitive about offending homosexual people but not necessarily worried about homosexuals offending anyone else... During my college days there, I met a few gay people who felt like they could do whatever they wanted because they were gay and in their land. There is an attitude that you can't state any opinion that is against anyone in the LBGT community. During Pride some boundaries are pushed and there are no repercutions. Blah blah blah and so on... Even with what can appear to be a double standard, even living right in it, I can't justify hating homosexuals. I don't understand homophobia.
So there I was... Listening to bio-dad talk about gays in the military and how he wouldn't be able to trust that a gay soldier fighting next to him wasn't looking at his ass or wouldn't fall in love with a terrorist during an interogation. And how even if the dude was his best friend, once he found out he was gay, he'd just be a filthy faggot (or maybe he said flaming... or nasty? idk, but it was an offensive adjective) and could no longer be his friend. How gay men are looking at any man whether they're gay or straight. I tried to reason with him (which is how we got on the what if he was your best friend thing...) but then I gave up and we moved on. Once I got off the phone, my first thought was he's going to be my child's grandfather.
I don't think his influence on my children will be so great that they will grow up thinking it's ok to talk and think this way about other people. I will raise compassionate children who will be respectful to everyone. It won't really matter what anyone tells them. My kids will think for themselves. But what about now? I don't have any kids. But I don't want to hear my dad talk this shit. He's not like any other conservative I can just ignore and turn off. So... I guess I'll just avoid talking about current events with him... *shrug*
A little backstory... My dad hasn't always been a homo hater. He hasn't always had this disdain for any- and everything involving homosexuality. When In & Out came out, he loved it. He quoted from it. He laughed when I teased him about being gay. Somewhere along the way someone hit a switch in his head and a little jerk inside started saying "haaaate the gaaaays, lamooonte..." We end up talking about homosexuals a lot because he lives in the Bay Area and it pops up a lot for him. He's against gay marriage because he "doesn't want his son learning about gay sex in school." Gay sex is "gross." He doesn't think they should be allowed to have the Pride Parade. He won't watch Milk. I'm sure he hasn't seen Brokeback Mountain.
I'm not really a liberal. The Bay Area is kind of overly sensitive about offending homosexual people but not necessarily worried about homosexuals offending anyone else... During my college days there, I met a few gay people who felt like they could do whatever they wanted because they were gay and in their land. There is an attitude that you can't state any opinion that is against anyone in the LBGT community. During Pride some boundaries are pushed and there are no repercutions. Blah blah blah and so on... Even with what can appear to be a double standard, even living right in it, I can't justify hating homosexuals. I don't understand homophobia.
So there I was... Listening to bio-dad talk about gays in the military and how he wouldn't be able to trust that a gay soldier fighting next to him wasn't looking at his ass or wouldn't fall in love with a terrorist during an interogation. And how even if the dude was his best friend, once he found out he was gay, he'd just be a filthy faggot (or maybe he said flaming... or nasty? idk, but it was an offensive adjective) and could no longer be his friend. How gay men are looking at any man whether they're gay or straight. I tried to reason with him (which is how we got on the what if he was your best friend thing...) but then I gave up and we moved on. Once I got off the phone, my first thought was he's going to be my child's grandfather.
I don't think his influence on my children will be so great that they will grow up thinking it's ok to talk and think this way about other people. I will raise compassionate children who will be respectful to everyone. It won't really matter what anyone tells them. My kids will think for themselves. But what about now? I don't have any kids. But I don't want to hear my dad talk this shit. He's not like any other conservative I can just ignore and turn off. So... I guess I'll just avoid talking about current events with him... *shrug*
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