Hop Against Homophobia

Hello to everyone and welcome to the Hop Against Homophobia. This the first time I’ve written a blog posting like this and I really didn’t know what I should discuss. Over 250 authors are participating in this hop and you’ll probably read a variety of postings. I just hope my can compare.

ho·mo·pho·bia noun \ˌhō-mə-ˈfō-bē-ə\

Definition of HOMOPHOBIA:

Irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals

I felt it was important to put the definition as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary at the beginning of my post. Some people aren’t aware of the extent of the definition and a small reminder never hurt. I’m sure at one point or another we ourselves or someone we know has displayed homophobic behavior and it was probably unwittingly done. But today is a new day and a fresh start. We as a whole can spread the word and put an end to this irrational fear, aversion, discrimination against homosexuality. The GLBT community cant to it alone. We’re all a part of the human race and should be treated as such.

I’m a strong believer in everything starts at home. How we we’re raised and how we raise are children are a big factor on the adults our children will turn out to be. I’m the proud mother four very energetic children who I’ve been raising to not look at others differences. Be it the color of their skin, if they wear glasses, have a speech problem, brown hair versus blond hair, learning disability, and even who a person chooses to love. My response to my children when they question another individual for being different is always the same. If we were all the same the world would be an extremely boring place.

Here’s a little story about my ten year old daughter Tatum. My little girl is very perceptive and as she gets older her father and I encourage her to ask questions if she doesn’t understand something and it led to this discussion at our local movie theater. I took my two oldest to see the Bully documentary and when it was over as we walked back to our car Tatum asked why the girl in the documentary was being bullied. I had to stop and explain to her that the young lady featured in the film was a lesbian. She told me she understood that but couldn't comprehended why the young lady was being picked on for that reason alone. Tatum told me the girl was just being herself and why should that bother anyone else. Part of me was proud that it didn't faze Tatum to even think for a second that someone should be treated differently for something like that. But with that came the heartbreak that I had to tell her that these are the hard truths of the world we live in. Discrimination is everywhere and we can’t protect our children from it all the time but we can teach them how to overcome it and to stand up to the bigots of the world who try to shove those hateful beliefs in our faces.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a woman and no, I’m not gay. So I can’t possibly understand the daily struggles the GLBT community goes through. And as a writer in the M/M genre I’ve been asked how can I possibly know what I’m talking about? Simple answer to that is love is love. Be between a man and a woman, man and a man, or woman and a woman. Being gay doesn’t make a person any different than a straight person. We’re all people in this big world just trying to live our lives and find love along the way without judgment from others.

I don’t have a solution for this problem but I wished I did. Compassion and understanding is what this world needs more of and I truly do believe each and every person can make a difference. There are organizations out there to give support and help to those in need. I do believe it all does get better and as a parent I wholeheartedly stand by that belief. Never give up hope!

This is a blog hop so I will be having a giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment with a valid email address so I can contact you. I’ll be selecting three winners and they can have their pick of any of my books. The hop runs from May 17th-20th. Now run off and read my fellow authors postings. Understanding and knowledge is what will make us stronger as a community!

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