Do Gay Americans Deserve To Be Happy? (commentary on Out Impact)

Using words like ‘bullying’ or ‘taunting’ or ‘teasing’ when someone is being tormented and tortured is like referring to rape as ‘severe flirting’” – Jackie Beat (via Divine Grace, NYC)

Bambi Weavil, Do Gay Americans Deserve To Be Happy, opinion, commentary, Out Impact

Each of us has a story to contribute to this world by the testament of our lives. I grew up in a beautiful small Coastal town known on The Weather Channel as a Hurricane hot spot, in the NBA as Michael Jordan’s hometown, and in pop culture, as the home of Dawson’s Creek: Wilmington, North Carolina. Though that’s not where my story started, I spent a brief period of time in what I refer to as Hell from ages 4 to 5. As my father was a police officer in a small town called Rose Hill, NC, I was once tricked by our neighbor’s children and held down and beaten during a game of “school” when I went over to play. I dealt with the indignity of having your pants pulled down to show red marks on your butt, all a result of kids being taught to beat and hate that which they don’t understand, all because my father wrote someone in their family a ticket- prompting my family’s move to Wilmington.

I thought it’d be in broadcasting after watching Peter Jennings nightly, or writing for a big newspaper after falling hard in love with the written word (I’m still smitten)…but I never thought it’d be founding my own national online gay magazine. I never thought my personal life would contribute to my career when journalism teaches you not to be personally involved with the story, but I also thought I wasn’t going to live beyond my mid-20s either.

Sometimes, you have to be willing to be the voice for the voiceless.