Disenfranchised
I got a bad start on adulthood, thanks to my being gay in a redneck town. The bullying got so bad I was afraid for my life and no one would protect me from it. I will never return to what once was my home, thanks to promises that I would be killed if I do. My father never had another civil word for me, attempted once to lure me into an electrical death trap, my mother never recanted the statement: "I don't even like you anymore". This was all shortly after I got "outed". I'm so sad they died this last year with all their bigotry intact. I was written out of any inheritance.
So ran away from all that at 16 years old. I dumpster dived, lived under freeway overpasses, parks, public bathrooms, and sometimes found a pedophile who'd take me in. All this was better than living in constant fear of my life and health. I was forced to go live with my late aunt and uncle when I was nearly 18 after getting busted by a truant officer. Bless their hearts and may god rest their kind souls for making up for what was a gap in my development, starting me off in college towards a carreer.
I've never really gotten over the disenfranchisement, even 40 years hence. I always wanted to get married, but potential mates, some who went "back in the closet", got straight married to wives they cheat on now. Some who remain convinced only to now that we could never have any sort of "normal" engagement, commitment or sense of family. I resigned to a life of bachelorhood.
I still shudder at the neanderthals who still want us to be disenfranchised, banished, marginalized, berated, all isolated on an island or worse. I feel there are only few worse reprehensible acts than parents disowning a child because they didn't turn out exactly as they wanted them to. It just makes me fearful of these bigots gaining control of the congress and reversing all the progress we've made.
http://www.upworthy.com/theyre-just-normal-kids-but-their-stories-made-my-skin-crawl-heart-sink-and-blood-boil?c=upw1
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