Follow Up

I just wanted to thank everyone who commented on my last post.  Both through the comments here and through my email.  You all had respectful and insightful things to say.  That's one of the things I love about this blog.  I am not going to stop working for this client and I never really even considered doing so.  He is who he is and the fact is that I still do respect him for what he has done and achieved throughout his life.  He normally treats me with great respect, and I have no doubt that if he knew that I was gay, none of those things would have been said in front of me.  Don't get me wrong, they still would have been said, but most likely not in my presence.  

It was for that reason that I found the whole encounter so fascinating.  There was something about being able to hear, completely uncensored, what people like him think.  After the election and seeing all the signs and the facades that people put on, it was almost refreshing to hear the truth, as ugly as it was.  He wasn't hiding behind any religion, he wasn't talking about "saving families," he was being honest about how he felt about gay people in general.  I almost wish the people from the Yes on 8 campaign had had the balls to do what he did.  To try and spin it so that they were supposedly supporting families and what their kids would be taught in school was just ridiculous.  I may not like it, but I have to respect someone who just says it like it is.  And my client did that.  He said it like he saw it.  

One thing that I should point out is that while I was sitting at that desk listening to what they were saying, I really wasn't thinking about myself.  For some reason it wasn't as if he was talking directly about me.  But what I was thinking about was if my son had been sitting in that room hearing what I was hearing.  The Boy is still too young but at some point he will hear the words "gay" to describe his family and his Moms.  I sat there thinking about him hearing this and what his reaction would be.  That was a lot harder for me to swallow than if I was just hearing it for my ears alone.  I am very thankful that he didn't hear it but it did make me acutely aware of the fact that most likely at some point in his life he will hear his Moms described in some type of a negative fashion.  I just hope I have raised him to have the knowledge and strength to understand that we all have different opinions and ways of life and that that is okay.

And like I have always said, I do not expect all people to have the same morals and opinions that I do.  It really is what makes America great.  That sounds cheesy, but it is true.  The same thing that allows me to talk openly, on the internet no less, about my "gay lifestyle" and my child with another gay woman, are the same rights that allow him to speak as he did.  So while it was an uncomfortable situation for me, I am not taking it personal, and I am not wasting too much of my time thinking and dwelling on it.  I have an amazing little boy, I have another child on the way and I have a hugely supportive family that has loved me since the day I was born and will continue to love and support me throughout my entire life.  That is really all I need.