solitude is misery. shame on those who would push it on a select few.
The church doesn’t just demand celibacy of it’s gay members, it forbids them to congregate, too.
"What society tells those born deaf or mute that they must never validate themselves as deaf or mute people, that they must fight the temptation to think that they are OK as deaf or mute people, and that they must never seek to express themselves in ways that are only right for hearing and speaking people? What healthy society, in fact, doesn’t encourage the deaf and mute to band together, and to see themselves not as "defective," but as different?" - Rick Fernandez
Everyone is free to identify themselves however they choose and gather with those who are like-minded. That’s why there are groups of grown men who dress up like civil war conscripts, sleep in tents, and hold mock-battles.* Generally those men don’t think of themselves as soldiers but some weekends they do. Identity is flexible.
I don’t personally think of myself as a gay man; usually I’m a Mormon man. Sometimes I’m an elite space marine. Sometimes I’m an armchair quarterback. Usually I can find good company to share these identities with. An armchair quarterback with nobody to explain his masterful strategies to is a lonely man.
And man is not meant to be alone.
*Ours is not to understand, ours is but to question why.
+++
good tune
http://djpretzel.web.aplus.net/songs/Actraiser_Thy_Followers_OC_ReMix.mp3
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5 comments:
"The church doesn’t just demand celibacy of it’s gay members, it forbids them to congregate, too."
I've never suffered church discipline for being friends with my moho friends...and I know a number of them that congregate together.
If anything, the reason we don't congregate all day every day is because we who know we're tempted to act on our feelings, and thus risk breaking the "demand celibacy" part (which goes for every un-wed member of the church). If you're feeling like you're disallowed congress with other moho's, you're working with a bishop that doesn't necessarily understand you.
I think it's part of the "gay recruitment" thing the church subscribes to. I've never even seen it hinted at that people like us could meet except at Evergreen meetings (never been but I think it's funny when others talk about Evergreen as a speed-dating party).
Other than that we're told to play baseball.
The state of Utah just re-banned gay-straight alliances because Senator Buttars thinks they are "conditioning clubs that teach other students that being gay is socially acceptable..."
Even Social Services doesn't have a group therapy meeting, only solo counciling, for homosexuals.
The idiocy that has gripped the state of Utah is not synonymous with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I don't expect the Church to ever set up Young Single Gay Adult Retreats ... just the same as you won't see them organizing drinking nights or pot parties.
We can hang out with other moho's, but if we do anything that would be celibacy issues, of course it's a problem, just as it is with straights.
And "Gay recruitment?" What...does the church get Cher and Madonna tickets, too?
When you say, "just as it is with straights," what do you mean?
It's not even close.
We can't flirt, date, kiss, live together, grow old together, etc. Ad naseum.
As for the Law of Chastity, if a stright breaks a rule everything is different. If a heterosexual did anything in the above paragraph he would never be punished! The idea of reprimanding someone for dating is absurd.
Real violations, like extra-maritall sex, generate stunningly different responces from church leaders.
Oh, and yeah, the church wont sponcer Young Single Gay Adult Retreats. They didn't sponcer Black History Month, after all.
They would rather just let the marginalized be aclimatized once they are admitted to full-fellowship.
That's fine. I could live with that.
I would like too, anyway.
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