My Story Part 71 – I Don’t Understand Hate

All my life nobody ever hated me. That all changed when I came out.

I read articles from these so called Christians (I say so called Christians because when I was growing up, I was taught that Christ was a about love, not hate) telling me that I am damn and going to hell, telling me that I’m a sinner, telling me that I am better off dead. Why? Because I do not want to live my life any longer a lie.

I sat yesterday with some friends from ctEqualty and CWEALF at the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in hearing room 2C waiting for our bill HB6599 to be voted on. I was sitting there taking in all the sights and sounds going on around me and there was a mother and two children sitting behind us. I heard her mumbling “this is discussing”, “why are there people like them here”, “why are they even hearing a law like this?” She then got up and left. I don’t know if she was talking like that about me and the bill, but I got the impression that she was saying that about us. She has the right to be there just like I have and she has the right to say what she did. However, what I do not understand is why she hates people that she does not even know.

I am reminded of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song in the play South Pacific, “You Have to be Carefully Taught”…

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

Who taught mother to hate and to pass that hate on to her children?

If you look at some of the amendments that have been proposed you can see the hate in them…

Gender ID Bill Waits in Committee, Kissel Plans Amendments

CT News Junkie
By Hugh McQuaid
Mar 30, 2011

But Kissel came to the meeting with some amendments he planned to propose that may make the proposal more palatable to his colleagues.

The amendments came from concerns raised during a public hearing on March 21, he said. Kissel’s first amendment would ratchet up penalties for individuals who posed as transgender for criminal reasons.
[…]
Kissel’s other amendment also addressed a concern raised by Wolfgang at the hearing, mainly the effect having a transgender teacher could have on young school children. Under the amendment municipal boards of education would be given the option to temporarily reassign transgender teachers as they undergo transition.

What a great lesson to teach the children, that we take people who are different and hide them away. Instead of the lesson that we welcome diversity, that we can learn from people who are different from ourselves.

Here is a video from Channel 8, WTNH yesterday…

Transgender protection bill postponed: wtnh.com