You'll Thank Me Later

I'll let you figure this one out.

If you ask Mark why he is sexually attracted to men, he will not answer you directly. Instead, he will fire back with something in the form of "Why don't you like pineapples on your pizza?" That will be the end of that conversation.

Mark pays his taxes dutifully. Mark plays his role in saving endangered white rhinos. Mark is as much of a human being as you are. Mark does not rub it in your face that he prefers the company of men to that of women. You never would have known were it not for your friend (read: partner in gossip), who also doubles as your fellow homophobe.

Subconsciously, when you find that last fact out, every good thing that is Mark will be obscured from your judgmental vision. You will perceive Mark as an oddity. You will treat him like he has leprosy. You will trash talk him (most probably behind his back). Mark will keep fighting for endangered white rhinos and for his right to love.

In your defense, God created Adam and Eve, not the proverbial "Adam and Steve". That wasn't God's intention for human relationships! How can Mark and his lover fulfil God's mandate to fill the earth? Doesn't he know the ancient consequences of his actions? You feel ashamed that you were once classmates, friends even. You think back to instances when he could have hit on you. You recall none. Nonetheless, you delete his number lest you be associated with a faggot.

Mark understands. He was also raised in a religious African family that shuns homosexuality. Heck, in his community, you can make babies with your cousin, but you will be excommunicated if you give a fellow man a lustful glance. Debauchery is a norm, yet his innocent expressions of affection are considered the utmost depths of depravity. He occasionally finds himself scoffing at the double standards.

Mark did not choose his sexual orientation; he just doesn't love women like that. Well, he doesn't hate them either, but whenever he would go on dates with them (and boy has he been on a whole lot of those), he could never connect with any of them the way he does with Nicholas.

He will make a much better husband to Nicholas than he ever would to even the most outstanding lady they could hook him up with. Mark and Nicholas adopted three kids from a children's home and make an exceptional family. Of course, they will never be able to sire their own offspring, at least not naturally, but really, the world is bursting at the seams anyway. Mark and Nicholas are doing all of us a favor.

They are highly unlikely to cheat on each other because they are actually in love. Incredibly, most if not all cases of infidelity come from opposite-sex marriages. You're with your woman because she's "different" from you. You don't actually love her. Perhaps, you're only with her because of her boobs, which you can get on any other girl without much difficulty. One day it will hit you that you are unsatisfied, whilst Mark and Nicholas are being the model couple you don't want to acknowledge.

Mark and Nicholas' adopted children are raised in a loving home and they will grow into amazing people. Their family is secure. Your children will be emotionally scarred because you are rarely home and your wife cries herself to sleep on your account.

Yours and Mark's children will end up in the same school. Yours will discover that Mark's don't have a mother, and from a place of insecurity, they will taunt them incessantly about it, just like you do to Mark. At least Mark's have a solid support system. Yours don't. At the end of the day, I would prefer a world full of loving homosexual couples ten times more than I would a world with estranged "normal" couples. Who are you to hold a knife to someone's jugular, dictating who they can and cannot love? It's great if being with a woman satiates you, but we are not the same.

Of course, within the confines of institutions that do not permit shows of affection, such as schools, no couple should be sexually intimate. What baffles me is that the same captain shagging that girl behind the loos will assemble a mob to beat up the boy who sent a "Have a good night, dear" sticky note to his crush in class. Love quite literally makes the world go around. Lack of it causes wars, dwindling economies, shattered homes, broken people, and sour pricks. God gave us all free will. His intention for us is good. You should achieve your happiness however you know best, unless it contravenes others' basic human rights (News flash: Selfishness is not a basic human right).

If by the end of my rambling you still have any curt comment about lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, or queers, with all due respect, keep it to your damn self. How would you feel if you were forced to put pineapples on your pizza yet you're deathly allergic to them? This is the twenty-first century. We could use a lot more open-mindedness than what you are bringing to the table.

Listen, Mark is just pursuing happiness. The main reason this causes you immense discomfort is that you are jealous. You may not realize it, but you want to be like Mark. You crave for happiness. Like a bully who was made to feel pathetic, you are repeating the cycle of demeaning others to numb your pain.

You are sad and lonely, so when you see Mark happy with Nicholas, you are beside yourself with rage. Any reasons you manage to string up for your ignorant behavior are all lame excuses hiding the real root of your despair. If you were happy, you wouldn't give a hoot about Mark's love interest or his sex life. Go find your happiness, chap. You'll thank me later.

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