Holy Homosexual Heroes
May 27, 2010
David Hayward over at nakedpastor created yet another awesome cartoon.
I’m not one to throw the word hero around lightly but if a hero is someone who risks their life to save another, then I don’t consider it a stretch to attribute heroic status to those who come out of the closet. Every time someone comes out of the closet it comes with the risk of losing the life (family, friends, community, career, home…) they’ve always known and all too tragically there continue to be places in the world where the price is much higher still, resulting in the loss of their freedom even to their very life.
Like the pilot who uses his skill and calm to land a plane safely so all the passengers are saved or the firefighter who enters a burning building to rescue a child trapped inside, the person who comes out of the closet saves not only the lives of others who find hope and strength to go on for another day by their example, but they save their own life. Coming out is life-saving for the one who comes out and for those who witness their courageous act.
I don’t know who Pat is that David refers to in the cartoon but in my mind everyone who comes out of the closet, especially those deep locked closets held within the walls of the church, are heroes in the truest sense of the word. And like most heroes who’ve ever lived, the hero who comes out of the closet is the first to acknowledge that what they thought they could never do, they were able to do because God gave them the strength and the courage to do it; to open the door and step out.
You are all heroes or future heroes in the making in my book. Don’t sell yourself short and just as importantly, don’t sell short what God can and will do through you.
Now go get your SuperHero cape out of the dryer before it wrinkles.
Posted in Coming Out
Sweet Hope Cookies
May 27th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Don’t sell yourself short and just as importantly, don’t sell short what God can and will do through you.
That’s the real deal right there in that statement!!
BTW, I do have a shirt with the Superman logo… only it says, “Lesbian”! A friend gave it to me as joke, but then another friend developed a whole comic book around me. She cast me as “Flattop: Defender of Queers”. I was amused… and mystified.
May 28th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Anita, I agree — coming out literally saved my life. At the time, all I could think about was how was I going to get rid of it. How everything in my life would change and that I could not live this life?
My boss is a lesbian, and every week she would say – tell anyone this week? And I would tell her – and she would do this little cheer when all went well. And when it didn’t, she would listen.
And so yes, everyone who comes out is a hero. And this site, is a blessing, I found it as I sat at a loss and ready to end things. And you, you are God’s gift, using your time and talents in a major huge way to impact lives for Him.
So thank you, Anita — for being a hero and bringing up a hero’s site. And to all my sisterfriends — thank you for being heroes everyday that you leave your home!
June 1st, 2010 at 5:02 pm
When I was in high school, an artist friend of mine drew a cartoon that was supposed to be me. It was a super hero with a cape and a big brawny body with tiny little arms and legs. The super hero was called, “Wiener Boy”. Now of course he had no idea I was gay (I didn’t think I was either, then) but after reading this post, I look back on Wiener Boy with a whole different perspective.
June 1st, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Kevin….I mean Wiener Boy—> LOVE that story