Good Day to all you LGBT supporters!

WELCOME to the 2015 Hop Against Homophobia, Bi- and Transphobia or #HAHABT.  This is my first participation and I am extremely excited to be a part of this amazing initiative.

HAHABT 2015

Up for grabs here today and open until May 24th is a Signed Paperback copy of BLACK BALLED by Andrea Smith and myself with a beautiful hand-made book mark nestled inside.  To enter, all you have to do is share one of these links and make sure you tag me (my social links are listed below):

http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/

http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.fr/

May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia and in that honor, I would like to tell you a story…

A few weeks ago, my nine year old son came home noticeably upset.  Of course, my first thought was that something horrible had happened to him; bullying, punishment from his teacher or worse even, getting physically hurt in the school yard.  So I asked him what was wrong and his answer had me equal parts proud and angry at the same time.  How, you ask? How could those conflicting feelings be playing inside my head?

You see, my sweet boy was indeed upset about bullying but it had nothing to do with him.  He explained in his nine year old words that he was angry with his schoolmates because they were poking fun at one of the little girls in the school.  They are not in the same class so he didn’t know much about her except for her first name but he quickly understood that the reason for the bullying was the fact that she “has two mommies”.

I was livid.  Understandably so, because no child should be verbally abused for any reason and least of all for the sexual orientation of his/her parents.  I kept my emotions in check and looked at the rear-view mirror to try and gauge my son’s facial expressions before asking him what I believe was a crucial question in this matter.

“And what was your reaction?”

As any LGBT supporter and all-around reasonable parent should, I was worried…hoping my nonchalant messages had reached him throughout the years but sometimes it’s difficult to control the outside forces of bigotry and all encompassing phobias of anything not deemed “normal” by society.  But then my baby boy made me the proudest mother in the world with his simple answer:

“You can’t choose who you love.”

I almost cried.

Okay, fine…I did discreetly shed a couple of tears.

But then he continued and explained how he told his friends off before sitting next to this little girl during the rest of the break.  Apparently, he didn’t know what to say to her so he just sat there, in silence, trying to support her as best he could.

I told him that what he did was absolutely perfect and that I was extremely proud of him.  When I glanced at the rear-view mirror again, I saw a beaming smile spread across his lips.  I didn’t think it was possible to love my son more than I already did but in that moment, my love and adoration expanded one hundred fold.

So,  my message in all this?

If my nine year old child can understand that love is not a choice then how in the world can grown adults with the capacity of analyzing our society be obtuse to this concept?

It’s called ignorance.

This brings us back to May 17th and the importance of spreading the word to those who don’t have parents teaching the simple values that ALL people regardless of their gender should be treated equally as human beings.

I mean…seriously?

How could the love/lifestyle/marriage of another person possibly have ANY consequences on my own?

This simple truth of the matter is that…it cannot unless I let it. And you better believe that I DO let it. I allow the love, lifestyle and marriage of the entire LGBT community affect the way my children see the world.  With open, accepting eyes and a mind free of judgment.  That, my friends, is my contribution to our society with the hope that it will the same mindset that my children will have with their own (should they choose to have any).

Peace to you all,

Eva LeNoir