Homo-what?

I have been privileged enough to grow up and evolve in a very close, very open-mined community and was never really exposed to homophobic conditions for any notable amount of time. It is not to say that there were, of course, those isolated incidents that were so happenstance that I am unable to recall them. Due to this bittersweet situation, I have always struggled to build a deep personal connection to this subject. 

About six weeks ago was the night that my roommates finally convinced me to go with them to Spider House for a poetry slam (something they beg me to attend every week). The third poet took the stage. “I am the new and improved Scott, that will now go by the name: Ebony,” she said. Ebony gave a slam that sent chills down my spine. Her poem was directed at “homophobic haters,” something that I am not, yet somehow made me feel shame. Her poem revolved around “love” and there were two particular quotes that instilled themselves in my mind. The first one, “Experience will slaughter ignorance,” is referencing falling in love. The second, “We all have a reason to be here but its better to be someone else’s reason to stay,” references how when the entire world seemingly rejected her, enough for Ebony to want to take her own life, another woman’s love and need for her (Ebony) gave her the strength and courage to “rise above the hatred.”

I do not know if attending the poetry slam that night was an act of fate, fluke, or nothing of the sort, but any way you cut it, it somehow gave me that personal connection that I was so desperately searching for.