We had an alumna as our guest speaker, a lesbian woman from the class of '86. She spoke of how her different parts of her life had to be separate. Her faith and family and sexuality and neighborhood and career all had to be distinct because of her sexual orientation, Lesbians should not be employees, and God apparently hates gays, and lesbians cannot have any familial support, and they can't participate in their community because they should be ashamed.
Then, society started changing as she grew older and became a mother with her partner, her distinct and separate worlds started fusing. This coalesced when her family moved to Costa Rica for two years, to a small village because her partner was working in a mission school. Suddenly, her neighborhood and family and faith and career and everything was all located in one small village on a mountaintop. And it was okay. No one did anything or said anything against them because of their family. It was okay to live as a gay person.
I find this fascinating. I am so lucky to be able to be out as a pansexual and genderqueer person. Be out and still be successful. Where I know I won't be fired because I'm not a woman or a man, and I am still a valued member of the community no matter who my partner is. Granted, not everything is available to me that is available to heteronormative people, but society is warming up to the GLBTQ community and I appreciate that.
Thanks, society!
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