Nobody’s perfect.

I knew that already -- who doesn’t? But the other night, I relearned the entire concept. The hard way.

I mentioned to my mother that I had started a gay rights page. She looked at me like I’d sprouted one of those Teletubbie antannae, went all shrieky on me, told me that homosexuals had caused AIDS, told me she’d never let my little brother go to a preschool class with a gay teacher, and then started right in on The Myth List. All the while assuring me she was just stating the facts.

I’ve seen prejudice before, against lots of things and people and by lots of things and people. But against my devoted cause, by my own mother -- I now can state factually for the first time that I know how you feel. It’s not much fun.

It’s funny. I never thought for a moment I’d be so stunned if she disagreed with me. We’ve been adversarial for years, and I’ve pretty much gotten used to it. But then there are the surprises. I remember her from less bitter days as accepting of others, non-prejudiced. When I was a child, I played with a multi-racial group of friends and took no hostility for that. She was always teaching me color didn’t matter; physical ability didn’t matter; I’ve drawn on that early wisdom for a long time . . .

. . . just to have it collapse on me, like a house of cards subjected to one too many sneezes. The other year I dated a black guy. My dad (born in the 40’s) told me I might not want to start a serious relationship with him, as “interracial relationships could take some flak from Other People.” Other People, my @$$. It was his prejudice finally stepping into the picture; I don’t know if he knew it.

And now my mother clonks me in the head with a slab of lies, half-truths and twisted facts. That just doesn’t seem right. One of the things I most admired about her collapses before my eyes. Another one down and very few to go. How can someone like her wind up so small? She was never a bigot before.

Or at least she never seemed to be.

Bigotry slips between people, an invisible wall, and remains transparent until struck, whereupon it lights the blaze that burns bridges.

It’s hard to find things out like this. I shouldn’t be complaining to you. If you’re reading this essay, you’re probably homosexual and went through worse when your parents found out. Or maybe you’re heterosexual, or maybe you’re a lucky person with understanding and openminded parents.

I’m trying not to think about what my mother would do if I actually were lesbian, but I can’t help but wonder. I feel slightly ill at the notion. (Not of being queer; of my mother’s reaction.)

My relationship with my mother is winding up in a dookie heap because I questioned 90% of everything. Some things, I now realize, I never really questioned before. (Use the Scientific Method; dammit, girl, the Scientific Method!) Now I’m sitting here, typing, and clonking myself in the head with a chunk of truth unknown.

Gay rights have been debated for years and it's about time that our country, a country of equal rights, takes this to heart and grants homosexuals equal rights. I am a sixteen year old lesbian who sees this as a debate with a definite answer. All homosexuals deserve the same rights as heterosexuals, just like blacks deserve the same status as whites, and everyone else in this world for that matter. This descriminating against homosexuals is based on prejudice - it's not based on some "moral standards" that our country sets. What is moral to one person is prejudice to another. I have no doubt that a resolution will come about sooner or later, but I think the sooner the better. It's unfair to deny homosexuals of any rights that heterosexuals have. I hear from peers and adults how gays shouldn't have "special rights" such as marriage. That outrages me because what makes it so "special" about a gay couple marrying in comparison to a straight couple? Absolutely nothing - that's right. Every homosexual on this earth should have the right to marry and we should be given the same benefits and equal treatment as heterosexuals. This country has a very unjust image of equal rights, as it has had for decades. It's these images that have to be changed for the better for future generations whom might one day welcome a world free of prejudice. NOTE: This was sent me by an unknown contributor, and I don't quite know whether it was intended as a submission or not, but it sure looks like it. If you know who wrote this, please contact me -- I sent an email back, but I haven't yet gotten a response.