Post 2: Religious Freedom and my State of Birth

As some of you may know, all two of you who have randomly viewed this blog (Thanks!), I'm from Kansas.  Also, by the way, I'm gay (surprise).  As some of you (I'm now referring to people who have never heard of this blog and will never read this) know Kansas is a very, very, very... Very conservative place that is stereotyped by the infamous Westboro Baptist Church.

 These wonderful people can go fall to the bottom of the Marianas Trench.

Now, it really shouldn't come as to a surprise to absolutely anybody in Kansas or the United States whatsoever, but the Kansas House of Representative recently approved a bill that lets people fire LGBT people on the basis of religious freedom.  Even if there are other laws or ordinances that protect the rights of the LGBT person this new bill could effectively sidestep all that. (Check out more specifics on The Advocate website and other places on the interwebs that cover this kind of thing)

So... even if the person firing the LGBT person has no religious affiliation... they can still use this bill... as reason to fire a person because... they don't agree with that person's orientation/gender identity... or because it makes them uncomfortable.

Alrighty then... time to find a new state to pursue my career.

Helloooooooo sexy.

So yes, I'm a gay man , and I live in Kansas.  I also happen to claim Christianity as my religion of choice.  I'M FULL OF PARADOXES.  (Paradoxi?  I like that plural form more)  My father was a pastor so I know a butt-ton (I'm trying really hard not to cuss on this blog.... also butt-ton looks like butt-on... FOCUS) about religion and the reasoning/fear-mongering that goes on behind the scenes.  I would very much wish it wasn't so... but it very much is.

LGBT of Kansas, we should not be surprised.  It was pretty obvious we were going to get something like this as one of the most conservative states in the US.  We have a very conservative, Evangelical governor.  A lot of Kansans are also part of either suburbs or rural settings that are highly conservative and sometimes hostile to change.   We should simply be disappointed with how slow our state is progressing.  Not only this but our state apparently wants Santorum, famous totally-not-homophobic-but-doesn't-want-gay-people-to-have-a-job-or-children guy, as our president.

Really Kansas?  Really?  Frothy Mix guy?

Stay classy Kansas.

Majority of Kansas people:  understand that we are not trying to get rid of your religious freedoms.  We want to work.  We want to love the people we love.  We want to do both of these things as much as you want to do them. Some of us even are religious in some of the same ways you are.  What I'm trying to get across is that religious freedom in a secular workplace should not be a basis to fire someone from their livelihood.  Sexual orientation, as argued by many far more affluent wordsmiths than myself, is something that shouldn't be an issue even in a religious atmosphere.  Straight and gay people should be put up to the same light in those religious atmospheres.  Are these people showing God's love?  Furthering the kingdom?  Bearing fruit?  I would bet you'd be surprised if you let yourself realize that gay people could shine as bright or even brighter than some hetero believers.

One last thing to my dear Governor Brownback:  I'm aware you are going protect your traditional values, views, and norms.  I'm aware you're speaking for a large conservative constituency.  I just plead that you think about the broad terms of this bill that would make it so easy to fire a person.  Think about it.  By claiming religious freedom, couldn't a person who has no religious affiliation or is even a true believer still fire a person based on prejudice?  Yes.  In order to fully know if a person has a true religious affiliation that seriously affects their moral judgements, and therefore know that the bill is truly working effectively, wouldn't that involve a lot of background checks and/or invasion of privacy over a period of time?  Yes.  Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of 'Protecting Religious Freedom'?  Yes.  

Gov.  Brownback of Kansas.  My college choir and I sang for this man. 

So... that's basically all I have for right now.  I'll probably rant some more about LGBT stuff and religious stuff... and possibly political stuff.  I'll basically talk about whatever the heck I want to gosh darn it.  I'm anonymous!

Later, possible readers.

Post Number 1: Where to Start

I've tried starting a blog before.  Maybe it was the pressure to be interesting all the time or the crippling self-doubt that I just was not very interesting to begin with, but I quickly abandoned it after two posts.  Maybe the pressure of keeping up an image was just too much for me at the time.  The fact that people could track me down and see just exactly what was going on in my head was completely frightening.  Which is why I'm currently anonymous and don't have any connections to social media with this blog so... it's my time to be totally honest with the Internet:

I love you Internet.  You make my bad days wonderful with your stupid pictures and inspiring stories.  I lose myself in this vast world to be explored within your depths.  I have a naturally curious mind that hungers for intellectual stimulation and while you provide that you also relax my mind to the point of stupor.  There's so much to learn; whether most of it is inconsequential or essential is dependent on the person.

I've made some of the worst decisions on the Internet.  I also don't know how my life would be without it.

Without you I wouldn't have known how big a world there is around me or how small it can seem to kindred hearts.  My mind is constantly stimulated by the endless flow of ideas and information that comes streaming into you day after day, hour by hour, minute by minute.  The information that informs us and shapes our reality.

I want in on that stream.

So here I am.  Writing this pretentious little blog post with this vocabulary that is at the same time my own, but at the same time borrowed.  I hope that some people will read this and find themselves. Hopefully to add another into the fold of like-minded individuals in the constant ebb and flow of information and emotion as I add them into mine.  

There's so much to say.

But for that I'm going to need a lot more blog posts.

So here's to the first blog post. *clink* *chug*

Let's do this.