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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families"
That subject title is a snip from a letter (posted in its entirety below) to the editor written by a Vermont mother twenty-three years ago. This powerful message from a mom who had finally had enough is just as potent today as it was then, and just as (if not more) necessary.
This has been posted in DU several times over the years but some may not have seen it before, so here it is again:
Sharon Underwoods letter
By SHARON UNDERWOOD
As the mother of a gay son, I've seen firsthand how cruel and misguided people can be. Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people. I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.
My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay. He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic I don't know. I can only tell you that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."
You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart. He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.
How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage. You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.
The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "Whatever happened to the idea of striving to be better human beings than we are?"
Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?
democrank
(11,100 posts)What a profound and moving letter
Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)Because the holier-than-thou "conservative Christian" haters are worse than ever.
Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)They never share their angsty teenage diaries on who liked more, the QB or the cheerleader; and how they made their choice.
dawg
(10,624 posts)I've wondered if some of the more virulent anti-gay people might be much closer to the center of that spectrum than me. It would explain a lot.
Because, from my perspective, I find it hard to care all that much whether someone else likes men or women. (Unless I had a crush on them and they don't like men, of course.)
mopinko
(70,198 posts)and the reddest states stream the most gay porn, so
odins folly
(156 posts)But when I was in the AF, standing in the smoking area and one of the others , male, said it was a choice, I ask him how long ago he gave up sucking d!ck. Obviously this shocked him and he started sputtering nonsense and so I calmly said if its a choice, you must have tried both sexes before settling on women.
Fortunately we were in uniform so he couldnt take a swing at me but it shut him up and made everyone else laugh their asses off.
SWBTATTReg
(22,156 posts)live. Very moving and powerful.
Thanks for reposting.
2naSalit
(86,767 posts)And at least there are lots of people who can read where she's at.
Irish_Dem
(47,324 posts)Bringing supplies to the marines on Guadalcanal.
I can 100% guarantee that they did not put their lives on the line so that
my daughter can be hunted down like an animal because she is gay.
The world should be glad both men are in heaven now,
because if my father and uncle could see what Nazi fascists
have done to this country, and that my child is in danger,
the cussing would be epic and nonstop.
Evolve Dammit
(16,760 posts)MLAA
(17,318 posts)milestogo
(16,829 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,317 posts)I always ask if they know where I can get a copy of it.
AllaN01Bear
(18,359 posts)republianmushroom
(13,670 posts)Solly Mack
(90,780 posts)c-rational
(2,595 posts)Volaris
(10,274 posts)And tell these loser haters they can all fuck right off.
Multiculturalism is the fuel in the engine of our national economy (peeps come here still believing the American Dream is a thing they can have). That engine is what drives the transmission of us being the only fucking superpower left on the planet (and you can argue that there are rivals, but I'd say...no, not really).
And it's because Capitalism doesn't give one little whit about who you wanna fuck, or worship, at the end of the day.
ms liberty
(8,593 posts)yonder
(9,671 posts)Thanks for posting.
thenelm1
(854 posts)I wonder how many of these self-righteous jerks have ever been asked when did they make the choice to be such assholes? (Preferably in a public forum.)
SCantiGOP
(13,873 posts)Powerful. I am saving a copy to post the next time some asshole puts some homo- or trans-phobic nonsense on social media.
Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)The fact that so many here at DU had not seen this letter before means it still needs a wider circulation.
pansypoo53219
(20,993 posts)i once had a meal w/ some gays + i quipped, so. what's your agenda? to be considered humans?
Skittles
(153,185 posts)the only people who truly have an AGENDA* is REPUKES
clarifying to mean an agenda to FORCE ON EVERYONE
pansypoo53219
(20,993 posts)Skittles
(153,185 posts)POC, women, immigrants, kids, LGBTQ, drag queens.....who is next?
efhmc
(14,731 posts)JanLip
(845 posts)You posted this letter. Everyone should read it. This mom is a special lady and her wonderful son is so fortunate to have her. Peace and love
Jan
LoisB
(7,223 posts)momta
(4,079 posts)THIS!!!!!