Bigots: It gets better, but you have to choose a better lifestyle.
Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, has a story to tell, about how he overcame his bigotry and turned into a decent human being:
I am straight, and though everyone gets made fun of for something, I never faced the relentless teasing, bullying and violence that gay and lesbian kids did and do. In fact, I was a bigot. I didn’t take part in violence, but I probably did bully and tease other kids in school, given my attitude toward gays and lesbians when I was young. I know for certain that I did not do anything to stop others from bullying and in that way was complicit with what happened around me.
These actions and inactions were a failure of my faith, both personally and in the failure of the church to teach me anything else. In short, I thought that gays and lesbians (I doubt I knew about bisexuals or transgendered people) were deviant and to be condemned. My bigotry was consistent with what the culture, the church and my friends thought and said, and it was not countered by those who knew better. When I used the word “gay,” it was pejorative, and if I thought someone was gay, I kept my distance or worse.
But I got better. I’m not perfect, but better.
What changed? That is simple: A handful of brave men and women changed me, people who were willing to challenge my bigotry through leadership, friendship and warmth.
Millions of people have left the self-destructive anti-gay bigot lifestyle, and unlike some other “ex”-people we deal with on a daily basis, it can actually be verified that they’re not bigots anymore. They also don’t tend to end up getting caught a couple of years later at bigot bars, where Wayne Besen is standing with a camera.
Read his whole story.
