extra/ordinary

Does anyone remember...

...when I adamantly refused to ever wear or accept the wearing of leggings? Can you even imagine? I mean, what was I thinking? It's silly. I think I actually remember telling my mom to punch me in the face if I ever gave into the trend. And now, my friends, I wear leggings all the time.

It's kind of the same thing with rompers. Don't hate me. It's a hard thing to embrace. If you're male and reading this, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about. To be clear, I do not own a romper, and maybe I never will. But I hated them with a passion when they first started popping their odd little selves up all over, and now...not so much.

What I'm trying to say is, people change their opinions about things. Usually, it's only a matter of time, and usually, it's a result of exposure to the thing and lessening the shock of it--whether there was ever any real reason to be shocked or not. I'm not just talking about fashion here. I never believed I would drink alcohol. I never believed I would pierce any part of my face. And I never anticipated having openly gay friends. None of these things, in my opinion, are morally wrong. But in our country today, and in our state, I would have no trouble at all finding people who disagree. In a crowd, I could probably reach my hand in any direction and find someone.

I once had a discussion with a good friend of mine about this. She simply could not understand why people would be so horrified by gays. I tried to explain to her the small-town mentality I knew to influence a lot of people I knew. Some people are influenced by religion, others by their moral value system. Despite this, all she feels is their judgment, and their hate. Even as I was trying to explain it, it sounded absurd to me. And like a stupid excuse. I'm not really sure how else to explain it. The worst thing was, I remember when I was shocked to hear about someone being gay. Then I moved one hour out of my world and was exposed to a little taste of the real world.

Over a small amount of time, I actually let myself know and become friends with people who happen to identify as gay. And can I just tell you, they're really awesome people. Just like me (ha). But seriously, people just like you or I. I think one of the main problems here is that everyone who is so horrified by other sexualities can't even imagine a world where that exists. They can't walk in another's shoes or imagine what it might be like to be that person, different, singled out, and denied.

No one knows how to approach it. I guess I don't either. But it really frustrates me to see people, even friends, denied basic rights as citizens because our state and country decide to impose their moral system upon a group. Arguments can be made about the "true nature" of marriage, and how we "should" be biologically, but the truth is, those are only excuses. Our lawmakers and judgers are just a bunch of leggings and romper haters. Maybe they'll never change, but maybe that's because they'll never give themselves the option. I don't know.

And by the way, my God hates no one.

Love, Jennifer