there was a rally today at Saint Mary’s College of California aimed toward ending violence and discrimination against the LGBT community on campus. this rally came in the wake of four different acts of intolerance that occurred within the first month of the school session. it was time to call intolerance what it was. it was time to Out the Hate.
students, faculty members, and staff alike read poetry, shared thoughts, ranted, raved, cried, and cheered for joy on a small stage in front of the library, in front of a crowd of easily 100 people, holding signs, wearing supportive t shirts, declaring that today we were taking back this school, we were taking back what it means to be an inclusive community at a catholic school, we were building a culture of love that nobody can deny.
i prepared a poem for the event. wrote it in class this morning and read it at the thing:
SAY IT TO MY FACE
(by ryan c mccue)
i’m so sick of being treated like i have a sickness.
you can write as much heterosexual love poetry as you want
but as soon as i try
to stand on a stage and talk about some guy’s eyes
y’all are all like
“ooh he’s really pushing the envelope with this one”
it rattles me on a foundational level
that you buy in to the rotten business of heteronormative society.
i’m not saying it’s bad to be straight,
that you naturally hate the gays,
or even push us into some kind of fray.
i just hope you can recognize the natural prejudices present in this world
and in yourself
if you really think gay people are just the same as everyone else,
you’ll help us work against the labeling of love
this cut up, broken up, messed up version of romance
we’re handed by the higher-ups
told this is how we have to behave.
aren’t you done being a slave to oppressive ideas?
i am.
i’m done.
and i’m proud to be done.
so let’s BE done.
but then what’s to do?
leave? forget? walk away? run away?
forget?
forget that.
yeah i’m sick of being treated like i have a disease
but i’m also sick of people forgetting
that society made it that way.
so i’m done.
i’m done with this society and now, it’s time for a real change.
Here’s
an open invitation:
if you have a problem with the way i love,
say it to my face.
i want to see your hate.
i want oppression to come out of the closet
i want to out you as the bigot you didn’t know you were
you can hide behind a blanket of societal propriety
but you can’t hide from the truth.
this is the truth.
let’s be honest about our biases
because silence is the most destructive force of all
and if we stay silent among such violences
that will be our downfall.
so while we’re on the subject
here’s
another invitation
(a kinder one, perhaps):
if you see the violence in the world for what it is,
if you’ve had enough of putting labels on love,
if you’re as done as i am with a lack of LGBT rights,
then Join our fight.
because if you’re not actively fighting the problem
you’re passively helping it along
and we haven’t yet mapped out the whole solution
but the only thing you need to start a revolution
is a clear definition of right and wrong.
LOVE is RIGHT and HATE is WRONG
that’s a start.
what i do know is that the world we want
is free of violence based on sex, class, orientation, ability, and race.
but to stop it, you first have to bring that violence out to see the light of day.
so please, before the change begins, if you’ve still got something to say
if you’re clinging on to even the tiniest bit of hate,
please
SAY IT TO MY FACE.
