Sunday, May 30, 2010

A nice weekend

We've had amazing weather here in S/E Michigan this Memorial Day Weekend.
Despite the scare on Thursday night, my beautiful sister-in-law is holding strong and has decided not to pass on just yet. We have promised that we would be the ones to pick her up when God calls her home, so we've been "on call" all weekend. We in no way want to see her die. It would please us greatly if she could make some kind of miraculous recovery. But reality dictates that we wait and be ready.

While we waited, we decided to spend Saturday evening with our friend and 30 year veteran of the US Navy and US Army. Who just happens to be gay. We are always happy to spend time with him. He's one of our best friends. He stood up in our wedding back in 2005 and has even stayed with Pugsley while we took our parents on a Caribbean cruise. He's an amazing man with many stories to tell about his time in the service. He was proud to serve along side of everyone and made friends with people of all walks of life in the process. It would have been a shame if he would not have been able to fight for our country simply because he likes guys. Over the years he had to hide who he was. He got married to a woman and even had children. Conformed to everything that they wanted for him. Denying himself along the way. It was our pleasure to take him to Toronto five years ago (just after his retirement) and experience Toronto Pride for the first time with him. He could not believe that there was so many people that thought that it was OK to be who you are no matter what. To experience a million people at the parade and to witness two guys getting married after a lifetime of hiding brought tears to his eyes over and over again for the whole trip.
So it was especially nice to spend this weekend at his place considering the milestone of this past week of the potential repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. There are thousands of men and women that are currently working in our military that are gay. And thousands more that would like to. But our government seems to think that gay men can't control themselves. Perhaps it's because many of the straight men over the years could not control themselves. I ask did the world fall apart because another friends of mine's father got a girl pregnant and then brought her back to the states with him?(Then left her to raise the kid on her own) At least we gays don't have to worry about that.
It is necessary for us to have a military. It is not necessary for us to elect morons to make our laws. And it's time for this law to come to an end. To all of our military.... THANK YOU!  And to those who have suffered unnecessarily over hatred and bigotry an especially BIG THANK YOU!!
It's getting better. Slowly.

4 comments:

Jim said...

Great blog Stew! Nice that your friend eventually had the courage to 'come out' and start living a new life. It's never too late.
We all have morons in our governments. One way to get them packin' is on election day! Yes, the process is slow....never fast enough, eh? Maybe the next generation will reap the benefits of our efforts.

Unknown said...

I couldn't agree more. I know a couple a senators here in Michigan and they know that even though they call me their friend, they don't have my vote until they come around a little.

Jack Miller said...

My most heartfelt thanks for your friendship and support over the years. As the Vet you wrote about, I am proud of my service and proud to know you and Eddie. Thanks again my friend!

Unknown said...

Thank you Jack! Your friendship is something that I'm very proud of.