HATED...

I recently paid a visit to my friends new apartment. He's been there for about three months now and I figured it was time to see it. My friend lives with his girlfriend who is a decade younger than he is. She's really never been out of school since she began. She's gone from elementary, to middle school, to high school, to college, to grad school (where she is now). She's got no children, never been married, and apart from short stints in college style apartments has never lived on her own. Now that the background is laid allow me to continue.

When I arrived at my friends spot it was just he and I. We immediately left and headed to restaurant around the corner. As always, we had a great time. Laughed hard...embarrassingly hard. After consuming a ton of food and pausing the laughter long enough to pay the bill we returned to his apartment. The jokes continued and things seemed like old days, until....

Until his girlfriend showed up. When she entered the room my friends voice went up an octave as he greeted her. It was almost child like in some senses. I greeted her as well but she hardly turned her body as she mumbled out a fading hello. Before I knew it, my friend and his girl were in the bedroom. I could hear voices exchanging between the two but nothing intelligible. My friend returned to the day area and his girlfriend remained in the bedroom where she was supposedly taking a nap.

I knew something had changed. My friend didn't seem as free to speak and laugh as he had been prior to his girls arrival. Our interchanges weren't free flowing. He seemed distracted. None of these signs were there before his girl arrived. I sensed tension. I felt...unwelcomed. I wasn't surprised as I know his girlfriend doesn't like me because of my conservative social, political, and religious values. We had a few discussions in the past and it was clear that despite her claim of open-mindedness there was no room for me and my dissenting opinions.

After a short period of time my friend was headed off to the gym with his girl. I followed them out of the door and down the steps walking them to their car. As we parted ways I said goodbye to both of them. My friend said goodbye while his girlfriend didn't say so much as a word. Since I didn't want to be rude I said goodbye again directly to her. Again, nothing. Where's the love, the diversity, the welcoming of all peoples ways of life?

My friend's girl's behavior was so blatant I couldn't shake her rudeness from my mind. Typically, I don't give a damn about such things. If you're small in your mind while claiming to be big that's on you. But this is different as my friend has been speaking of marriage and children with this woman. You usually imagine that a friend as close as a brother would marry a woman that you love and embrace. This isn't the case at all.

Agitated by the whole thing I called my friend to talk about it. He made it clear and less words than expected that his girl doesn't like me. In fact, she hates me. She hates me because I'm against gay marriage. Not because I hate gays (which I don't) but because I'm against gay marriage. Funny thing is, about a year ago before we ever had a conversation about homosexuality I joined my friend, his girl, and her two gay friends for a night out. We had a good time and I'm certain she had no clue what my thoughts were on homosexuality (Because I treat people with respect no matter what their sexuality). So, since she had seen me interact with openly gay folks without incident I couldn't quite understand the hatred.

Like so many that support the homosexual movement, my friends girl has already written my script. I hate gays because I'm a Christian and I'm not in favor of gay marriage. I condemn gays to hell because I'm a Christian. I despise gay people and wish to rid the world of them because of my hate filled beliefs. And, despite my many daily interactions with homosexuals, always treating them as people not as sex objects defined by physical behaviors, I'm still a bigot. I know she thinks this because I tried my hardest to refute these claims as she threw them at me without success.

Hence, I'm accused of being a hater while in fact I am hated. I'm accused of being closed-minded while those with differing opinions won't even allow me to speak before they have assigned details to my thoughts. I'm accused of being a bigot while the accuse won't even say hello and goodbye as one would to a stranger they met on the street. I'm hated...and no less by the person closest to my closest friend. I don't know how this is going to work out long term as many of my friend's friends think as I do. How do you share a life when you share no common interest? I don't know the answer. What I do know is that there is an increasing persecution/hatred for "people like me."