Acceptance

It’s Pride in Newcastle, today: “a community LGBT festival for the northeast UK”

Why do I care? Well, I care for several reasons, some of them personal, but mostly because I think it’s really important for people to be able to say ‘this is who I am.’ Whatever your colour, whatever your religious beliefs, whatever your sexual orientation: you have the right to be accepted and treated equally. Yes, even if you choose to wear a fur-suit and Yiffy it up.. I may smile, but I won’t treat you any differently.

I know many people have issues on sexuality on religious grounds, that’s fine, but I do not think anyone has the right to cast judgement on the relationships consenting adults have with each other. If you truly believe God (whatever you perceive him/her to be) has a problem with it, I’m sure God can handle it in his/her own way. Pray for our souls, if you like, but keep your criticism to yourselves. This goes for a lot of things, actually: the most important thing in any belief system should be to honour the person.. ‘love thy neighbour’.. any hate-filled attacks in the name of missionary work smack of simple prejudice. I’m wary of people who use their faith to justify their own beliefs, it’s pretty easy to do, what’s more impressive are people that use their faith to reach out and understand things they may not be wired to understand. It’s a beautiful thing.

Acceptance is a beautiful thing. I should know, I’ve had to ask loved ones to accept a great many things about me lately, things known only to a handful of people. I try not to adopt labels because I feel I have no right to, yet. I’m cautious of appearing ‘trendy’ by pinning my colours to the mast of something yet untried. But, in my mind, I have labels pinned neatly to my breast.. and, finally, I admitted this to a family member, and the relief at expressing them out loud to someone I never thought I’d tell was amazing. As was being accepted, unconditionally. It’s the biggest gift we can give to another person. And to become the person we truly want to be, we need to accept ourselves.

I’m bi. (Not just bi-polar, though I suspect that too, but that’s a post for another day!) I’ve known for.. ooh, 11 years, but I’ve also been married that whole time, so there was no intent to act on it. So I’ve avoided the label because I can’t ‘prove’ it. As many of you know, my marriage has ended.. I’ve been separated for nearly a year now, and it’s been nearly two since it was clear it was heading this way. My husband knew I’ve been attracted to women, it wasn’t an issue. He might be surprised by my declaration, but then a lot of people are surprised by my moments of ridiculous honesty.

So, now you know.. those who choose to read this.. am I a different person to you now, I wonder?