I know most of you are out enjoying a nap right now after consuming copious amounts of slow cooked meats doused with vinegary red sauces, washed down with smooth flowing beverages of amber color.
However, I've had a thought plaguing me for a few days now, and I wanted to get this out.
Why am I not allowed to see a lifestyle as weird and unwanted?
The other day, I was having a conversation with a friend who is a staunch, open, bleeding heart liberal from New York. We were having a normal talk about this and that, shooting the bull and enjoying the free time that we had. But the conversation took a serious tone when the word "transgender" came up.
It really was in passing. I don't even remember the context, but when my friend said the word, he made sure to clarify that he "fully supports the transgender lifestyle."
I stopped him there. I'm all for tolerance and even acceptance in some cases, but I had to question why and how he supports such an unconventional lifestyle. He responded by explaining how our country is still inflicted with bigots and racists that want to oppress people because they are different; he further explained how he does anything he can - arguing, donating, befriending, etc - to help people who are "different" so that they can enjoy the life they want to live.
After all, he explained, they aren't harming anyone with their lifestyle choice.
And this is where I have a problem, but I couldn't really argue it because as I started to do so, he took the same ole tired "you must be inflicted with a bit of bigotry" route that no one can intelligently argue against.
But I'm not a bigot. I just don't think the transgender lifestyle is something I want to support. Nor, in all honesty, is it something I want to accept. And ultimately, I don't even think I want to tolerate it.
I'll admit that it's purely because it gives me the creeps and makes me queasy to see people attempt to go through such changes. Perhaps in that realm, I am a bit prejudiced against those people.
However, at what point do I get to pursue a culture that I identify with? One that consists of people who are similar to me in lifestyle choices?
It seems that the more tolerant and acceptive and supportive I am, the more I allow the possibility of my own lifestyle being compromised.
I feel the need to stop and warn against myopia. Obviously if a transgendered person moved next door and kept to themselves, it wouldn't bother me one bit. That I can tolerate.
But I do ask, "What if 1 million transgendered people moved to the Birmingham area ?"
Would Birmingham be a place I would want to live? Would I want to be associated with the transgendered community? Would they just keep to themselves, or would I begin to say changes in the way things are done around town? Would commercials change? Would TV shows change? Would the news coverage change? How much different could life get because I nor anyone else spoke out against a lifestyle choice they didn't agree with?
And why can't I have that discussion when someone is pledging full support of such a lifestyle?
Perhaps I do have some bigotry in me.