Categories: uncategorized
Date: 07 December 2007 19:17:30
Today my friend Peterson published a entry on his blog that really hit home for me.
He said, ”I thought about all the people in the world, queer and straight, who long for community, who long for deep intimate relationships and a place where they can be authentic without fear of being rejected”.
I have had one of those days. I feel isolated, lonely, unloved and unloveable and I have realised that this quote sums up my deepest desires in so many different ways.
As a 'straight ally' my life feels far from simple sometimes. The friendship groups that I choose to have means that sometimes I feel excluded from more mainstream groups. The Church in particular often does not understand and makes little, if any effort to try to do so and there are times when I feel annexed from both my gay friends and my church community. Whilst the two are not mutually exclusive and I have friends who fit into both, the majority of people I know fit into one group or the other.
Being authentic is hard. Authentic as a straight woman. Authentic as a Christian. Authentic as a daughter, a sister, a friend, a social worker... the list is endless. They are all hard. Authenticity, honesty and integrity are so often seen as a dirty words and yet for me they are vital to how I live my life.