tl;dr Of course, I was just previewing when Adam tweeted. So much for quiet ...
Since it's quiet and I'm home sick and work is kind of slow (yay!!), I don't think I related this story that happened on Easter. I've related before my frustration with my middle nephew (16), to whom everything for the last couple of years was "gay" this and "gay" that. It was getting so I was uncomfortable being in their house, which was always like a second home to me. This nephew has always had a very special place in my heart and it really frustrated me that he had adopted this attitude in adolescence.
Well, he's going through that phase that teenage boys do where they change at the speed of light. He's grown about 5 inches in the past 1.5 years and has really become interested in so many deep ideas. He's examining religion and politics and how they relate to him and his life and ideas.
We've had many discussions about religion (I think he is identifying atheist right now; certainly agnostic) and he is a major fan of the ban Disturbed. So funny, because he's still as clean cut a kid as you'd ever meet – I can't imagine him getting a piercing or a tattoo in a hundred years (which probably means he'll have one in a few months, lol!)
Anyway, when I go over lately, he really seems to want to get into deep discussions with me (not contentious at all, as we're very much on the same page with many things). Other than referring to every other thing as "gay," (which he stopped doing last fall). He has never seemed to have any genuine resentment toward gays, but he was very afraid of being perceived as such. (I've often thought he had theatrical talent and that he would enjoy the performing arts very much, but he wouldn't consider because people would thing he was !horrors! gay. :
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I fought that battle many times, but he was too self-conscious to consider it. :-/
I had only been there 15 or 20 minutes before he said, "Have you ever heard of the Westboro Baptist Church?" Me: Uh, yeah, I am all-to familiar. They have protested 2 or 3 of Adam's concerts. Two of his; one of the AI tour.
We haven't discussed Adam in awhile because when he first watched, he said, "He's okay ..." :: but again, the "g" word was just below the surface). Lately, however, he has become very interested in defending gay rights. This has all happened very quickly.
When he heard WBC protested Adam, he seemed very intrigued by that. I told him about Neil and how he got into it with one of the WBC and there was a YT.
Him: Really??? I want to see!! I tweeted my feed to see if anyone had the link and I did a search for the vid where Neil challenges the guy, but couldn't find it. Meanwhile, he was searching YT as well. We couldn't find it. I don't know if it was taken down.
Later, he shared a song that he absolutely loves; its about the tragedy of the gay suicides. It's a punk song, but it's really poignant. Here's a YT that has the lyrics on it. Change is being made on every level. Even the kids that are into metal and punk are beginning to rage against the injustice. I was so touched. He has come SOOOO far in such a short period of time.
A change is coming, for sure.
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