this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024
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oh it absolutely does, it makes them have to constantly confront the fact that they're not a perfectly straight and uncomplicated being, that almost everyone has more nuance to their identity than that, and it makes them very uncomfortable and afraid.
the right wing is full of people who are suffused with internalized bigotry and are constantly bottling up their true identity, it's sad as fuck
They want order and structure above all things it seems. “These are the rules, I have followed them all of my life. I’ve been told that I’m battling a supernatural force and I’ve been winning. You don’t even try to fight it. You embrace it. I’m worried that god might not exist to punish you, so I want to punish you on his behalf. My children see you and they may think to themselves, “maybe I don’t have to follow these rules.” I’m afraid to face my neighbors and fellow churchgoers with a kid who sees your carefree, sinful lifestyle and chooses to embrace freedom over suffering. Life is suffering, and if you won’t suffer willingly then I’ll make you suffer.”
I don’t know. I can’t get in anybody’s head, but I’ve known some seriously repressed and miserable people in my life.
I knew a guy growing up, his dad was a preacher. When we were about 13-14 he asked me, “angryseal, have you ever given thought to being gay?” I told him I hadn’t, not seriously. He’s never said anything else about it but he is furiously homophobic today.
Ouch. That is just... so tragic, and so stupid. I wonder if he was still processing. Obviously nothing to do with you, but if some adult in his life had just had the audacity to say like "I don't know I don't think there's anything wrong with gay people" or somesuch. Well, you wonder if things could have gone differently for him.