I expect simple behaviours here. Friendship, and love. Any advice should be from the perspective of the person asking, not the person giving! We have had to make new membership moderated to combat the huge number of spammers who register
Location: U.S.
Registered: November 2009
Messages: 630
My first thoughts are that Graeme Taylor is a brave young man, well spoken and a person who will grow up to become a proud gay man.
I doubt if there are many 14 year olds who could step up like that and speak their minds in a room filled with adults. No matter the outcome for the teacher, Graeme had assumed the role of the educator in that teachable moment we hear so much about.
The others at his school who feel that homosexuals are immoral beings are engaged in little more than Christian bullying, for what right does anyone have to pass judgement on this boy or any other LBGT student?
It is all too common that the secular scool system allows Christian messages to flourish despite the Constitutional separation of church and state. But like the haters, Graeme exercised his right to free speech.
I do hope his parents feel the same pride I do when I viewed his little speech. I can only imagine that he must feel loved and supported at home. But like many others I will wait to see if there is any stupid reaction to his open message. The boy deserves the support of the community for his actions, and he has earned our applause.
Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. (Sir Francis Bacon 1561-1626)
Location: Massachusetts and Florida...
Registered: June 2003
Messages: 354
I watched this twice. Once alone, once with my partner. He's younger than me. As we watched this video, I looked over and saw my partner crying, near the end of the film. Nothing dramatic, nothing earthshaking, just a few tears rolling down his cheek.
When I asked him what he was crying for, he looked at me like I had kicked him and then asked if it hurt. Very softly, and with a lot of humility in his voice, the man I love said, "that little boy just stood up to the town that let's the KKK call their home. And he just told the whole world he's gay. He's the bravest person I ever heard of. And I was ashamed of myself and proud for him. Proud of him."
Silent Holocaust. It is a powerful image. A quiet fire meant to burn something down to bare ash, burn down so fine that even science couldn't tell what was burnt. A fire that powerful, that large and hot, would surely roar like a tornado, creating winds all its own, and create enough heat and light that it could be felt for miles away, seen even with your eyes tightly shut.
So this video left me with two very powerful images. One, the destruction and craziness being heaped at our young gay brothers just for being whom they discover themselves to be, and the bravery we need to fight that destruction and craziness. The bravery to be who we are despite the fire.
We aren't silent anymore. We aren't going to go quietly, as the world let the Nazis do to the European Jews, and Gypsies, and homosexuals, and the mentally and physically handicapped in the Holocaust of World War Two. In the words of another generation of gays who also fought for their rights, and still do:
We're here! We're Queer! We will not disappear!
Well done, Graeme Taylor! You may only be one voice, one small voice, but you have shown us the way. It will take sure self assuredness, such willingness to make your voice heard, and that depth of compassion and common sense that you showed in stating your case to that school board to make progress against those who would just rather we didn't exist. You are still young, and entitled to grow up just like any of us, but you have definitely pointed us all towards the right path.
It's an uphill climb, my brothers, but top of the hill is in sight. Just remember, it's the last ten meters that's the hardest part of the climb.
Graeme was right about one other thing. Just like how he was there to support teacher Jay McDowell, fighting indifference, bullying and ignorance takes support. We all have to support each other. Hopefully, that's what we do here. Not just we older members who try to keep the information flowing, but to those who come here looking for advice and enocouragement, and to those who need to understand more about themselves in order to know if our path is the right one for them.
Thank you Graeme, and thank you Jay, for both standing up for what is right.
It's not the wolf you see you should fear, but all the ones he howls with. Don't be afraid of the song, but don't piss off the choir.
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Re: The USA's Silent Holocaust 
