"YOU’RE GOIN TO HELL YOU FAGGOT!!"
Gay, and in the South, you are bound to have heard that at least once or twice. In this scanty 11,000 person town smack in the middle of the Bible Belt things are horrid if you happen to be one of the few, one of the proud, out members of the GLBT community. Arkadelphia, Ark. is not such a wonderful place to call home for us.
In a small southern and often highly prejudicial town being homosexual could be a life threatening thing-we face more hate and discrimination than interracial couples, something the south is particularly known for deeply resenting.
Supportive parents are almost out of the question for some, simply because of deeply religious roots.
Painful Coming Out
The day my ex came out to her mother was excruciating to say the least and completely unexpected.Mandy and I are sitting on the couch under a blanket, her mom's house is ALWAYS freezing, play fighting, just joking around. “Well at least I don’t cheat turd!” This stops her mother in her tracks and she spins around, “What did she say!?!” Cocking her head to the side “Are y'all together?”
I drop my head quickly and motion no as Mandy blurts out the words “Yea, over a year…”
She turns to me “Jill I love you, Mandy you are on a fast track to hell in a hand-basket…” That set off two hours of preaching her into damnation, every negative comment possible spewed from this woman’s mouth, dripping with hate towards her own child.
Treatment of Gays in the Bible Belt
It is also common to be almost purposefully forgotten about at restaurants, sometimes only getting service to be seated, ordered and served, ticket with food. The dirty looks and rude comments are usually a given by at least one person on a date night.If you are lucky enough to attend Henderson State University, being openly gay is not a big deal as far as the school is concerned. There are always the narrow minded people who have a big issue with people being themselves but nothing like it could be.
Attend Ouachita Baptist University, and it is a completely different world…even the straight couples have it hard with limited visitation of the opposite sex.
OBU showed its position on homosexuality, however; in this statement given to the Associated Baptist Press about plans to reject an invitation by the Equality Ride.
Do not get me wrong, Arkadelphia is a great little town, but some of the people just cannot see through the web of hate before them. They refuse to see us as people and validate us as the same as they.
