Purple!

As a redhead, I always thought that purple was an unfriendly color for me and my complexion. Turns out it's fine. My half-sister Penny showed me that. RIP+

Yesterday was a day many united to wear purple to show support and love to teens/persons bullied because of either real or perceived LGBT issues. I had many friends who did because they wanted to take a stand against bullying for any reason. Not just because of LGBT issues, but because hatred and intolerance are simply wrong.

It would be wrong to bully an overweight person to the point that suicide was preferable. It would be wrong to bully a black person to the point that suicide was preferable. Bullying is quite simply wrong. I applaud my friends who chose to take that stand.

At the same time, though, they still argue that there is something "wrong" with being LGBT. All the other differences are viewed through another lens. Racial differences, well, we can't help being born. Overweight, well, we all know persons who are and we love them.

LGBT, however, occupies a unique space in our minds. It is the last bastion. In the refusal of the religious right to allow candid discussion of sexuality; implicit permission for bullying is given. We humans fear difference.

We've been taught to accept racial differences, religous differences, cultural differences, but this is the last hold out. How can we expect our children to respect a different sexuality while we tell them it is immoral and wrong? How can we expect them not to fear that difference if we never tell them that it is okay?

We do that with race. We tell our children that God made us all differently and wonderfully. We do it with size. We do it with religion (well, some of us do... but I digress). We don't do this with issues of sexuality.

So while I applaud the outward display of purple, let's not forget that unless we start to accept our LGBT youth for who they are-- bullying for this will still be seen as acceptable. Because, after all, they chose this.