Hop Against Homophobia

Welcome to the Hop Against Homophobia.    I have never experience dealing with homophobia, personally.   I'm not gay,  but I have experienced hatred in the form of antisemitism.   It didn't happen when I was in school, though I was bullied for other things,  for being shy and quiet when I was in elementary school and for when I got my first pair of glasses in the 7th grade.   When I got acne during those awkward teen years, someone had written in my vocational school yearbook that I should get a box of clearisil.

All those things hurt, but I could never speak out against them because no one would put a stop to it.  The school did very little in those days,  there were no anti-bullying programs in place like there are now.  No one addressed it, well except my mom.   She tried to help as best she could, but sometimes that only made matters worse, so I decided to keep my mouth shut and not let my tormenters know how much they hurt me. 

When I left school and joined the adult world I thought  'now I'm dealing with adults.  no more petty crap like in school.    How wrong I was.  My first job  I worked for a small company owned by a Jewish family.    I was doing data entry.  One woman would start talking about Jews (of course she'd make sure the bosses were not in the office when she did)   I won't go into what she said specifically and I would have reported her if not for the fact she was pregnant and I didn't want her to lose her job.  I was just out of high school, naive.  Looking back I would have done things so differently.

I've been told by a few people that I don't look Jewish, after I'd tell them I was.  I'm not sure what a typical Jew is supposed to look like since we're all different. Unless they were thinking of the stereotypes.      Years later I had a boss who told me on pay day that I really didn't need my paycheck since Jews have so much money.  He thought it was a joke,  I wasn't laughing and told him so.

I never thought I'd be interested in writing in the M/M genre,  it is Brokeback Mountain that I have to thank for opening up a world for me.  I've made friends in the fandom.  I wrote fanfic and met other writers.   Those writers started writing their own original stories that got published.  I started writing my own too.     As you can see from the books I have written. 

Love is a force of nature, as is the tag line from Brokeback.   I think that people should be able to love who they want.  It shouldn't matter what their gender is.    I was watching a video a friend of mine passed along to me.   About Shane and Tom.   They were together for 6 years,  they decided to come out to their family.   Shane's family accepted him but Tom's did not.      I think their story would be better served by watching the video Shane posted on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR9gyloyOjM

Warning:Tissue alert.     This video tore my heart out but it speaks volumes how things have to change.  We have to find a way to get the message out about being tolerant and how hatred destroys lives.    Just like with Brokeback and the lessons about not how society made it impossible for Ennis and Jack to be together and love freely.    The events in the movie took place in the 60s, but the question is how far have we gotten on tolerance. 

In the grand scheme of things it shouldn't matter what religion,nationality, race or sexual orientation we are.  What it should boil down to is what is in our hearts that count.   And to find that special someone to share our lives is one of life's greatest gifts. 

As a way to show my support for this Blog Hop event  I am giving away a copy of "Love on the East End"    It was written when gay teen suicides were in the news.   The stories I heard moved me to write a scene about it in my story.  

To enter my contest please leave a comment and your contact info.    I will be announcing the winner on Mon May 21st. 
Thank you


Here is a link to my fellow participants

http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com/