Earlier tonight someone posted something on my Facebook page which I took very seriously. For anyone who knows me, they will tell you that I am one of the sweetest and kindest people that they know. I have over 300 signatures and comments in my high school yearbook that will back me up when I tell you this, plus I have many friends from high school that will further attest to knowing me for years and that I am a solid individual who hasn't changed a bit since high school.
But there are several things that I will not tolerate and one of them is hate in any form. If you have problem with my sexual orientation or my being gay/homosexual then you need to keep that information to yourself because after living with this for 50 years I have found peace with it. Whatever your personal opinion is, mine is that being gay/homosexual is not a preference, it is not an illness, and isn't a decision that any sane person would make for their lifestyle.
If anyone has a difference of opinion they are ignorant and full of intolerance and bigotry and they are not welcome in my world or sphere of influence. Your opinion is not something that needs to be shared to me or to any of my readers, we have been through too much to hear your rhetoric, and we do not care what your opinion is because as far as I am concerned there is something terribly wrong with you.
Now this person didn't just go on to say that being gay was my personal choice, they brought my mother into the conversation and stated that I made a conscious choice to ignore her advice and that I went on to do just what felt good to me. I am sorry, this person knows me and my medical history. She used to work for my doctor's office and for her to state a blatant lie like that offended me to the core.
Not only does this woman not know my mother or my father, she put her own personal bias on my page unsolicited because she disagreed with me and my desire to bring my extended family together and to create an environment of love and laughter. To me this is highly problematic because Mommas House for Wayward Homosexuals is a dream that me and hundreds of my friends have talked about for years. For her to state something negative about a place that is being developed out of love, without expectations and recriminations of the past is shameful at best.
My followers and readers know that I have had extensive bowel issues, cancer that has destroyed my large and small intestines, which alone has caused me great deal of personal issues and anxiety in regards to my standing in the gay and straight community, and had me feeling isolated, lost, alone, alienated and unlovable.
You dare to come on my page JoAnn Duran and spout your nonsense hurts me to the core and has left me with very little regard for you and your ignorance. I lashed out at you because your own son is one of my closest friends and has spent hours and hours around me and has no personal problem with my sexual orientation or my identification as being gay, even though I don't have sex in that manner and haven't since 2008.
Whether you consider me gay, straight, neuter or otherwise is your personal opinion and I recommend that you keep it to yourself. You and I have talked on numerous occasions in the past and you have never brought any of your contempt or hate up to me verbally, for you to do so on Facebook is cowardice and shameful. I am embarrassed for you and I hope that you understand that Intolerance and Bigotry and Hatred are not welcome here! I have fought my entire life against society and people like you who have a warped opinion of reality, who refuse to see the truth of the situation and cling to the belief that Gay is a Choice.
Let me be the first to enlighten you! It is not a choice, it is not a lifestyle that is accepted or easy to live, and unless you have tried it you wouldn't understand the prejudice, hatred and pressure we get from everyone around us that want us to be just like them. No matter how hard I have struggled, endured and come through, I still wouldn't want to be someone like you a bitter lonely woman whose own son has used and abused, for the sake of his drug addiction.
Your words struck a chord in me and caused me to lash out towards you, to fall back from them and re-assess who I thought you were. I once thought you were a friend, someone who understood me and accepted me as a person. I never knew that you harbored such feelings against me as I saw glaring off Facebook this evening. I am overwhelmed with pity for you and feel sorry that you have missed out on love and companionship of people like me. Because there is definitely something broken inside of you to make you think less of a person because of their personal identity.
I do mean personal identity, because no other term fits my description. I have not participated in Gay Sex or Straight Sex in years, yet I have a boyfriend whom I love with all my heart, I have been by his side for 5 years and I had another boyfriend before him whom I was with for 10 years and just one more before him that I was with for 12 1/2 years. I am not promiscuous or prone to having multiple sexual partners. I find someone who similar tastes and beliefs as myself and who enjoys being in my company and I in his.
I didn't wake up one day and just decide that I wanted to be gay, that it was cool or fun. It certainly wasn't for the pleasure because let me explain, it had nothing to do with sexual gratification it has been more about who I felt more comfortable being around, and who I could express myself around totally. I many not be your run of the mill gay person, and I may not have a conventional relationship because it is based on something other than sex because me and my partner haven't had the luxury of participating in that event since my colon cancer and loss of my anus and large intestines.
I define myself by a sense of belonging to a community of individuals who are like minded who are attracted to members of the same sex, and I love as hard and as deeply as those with sexual relations. Unfortunately, I am unable to participate in the activity in the way or manner that I like so I tend to avoid it now. I have come through some dark times, battled depression and I have come to terms with my limitations and yet I still identify myself as being gay.
Whatever your opinion is of my lifestyle I am telling you to keep it out of your mouth and off of my page. I have dealt with people like you my entire life and I will fight you and I will tell the world your sad little story if you want me too and you know I know it. I don't want to make this a war, because I am sure you don't want your personal business spread out for the world to judge and see. But that is the major difference between you and me. See I have been in the Gay Community and a leader in it since 1986 here in Orlando, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas, I organized the first gay pride march in downtown Orlando, was instrumental in starting Gay Days at Disney and instead of hiding myself I have been out there on the front line, I know what hatred is, and I have battled against intolerance. I am and advocate for equality, and gay unions, and I am a public speaker. I am an award winning author who wrote the play "The Changing Face of AIDS" and I am a member of the Positive Champions Speaker's Bureau who teaches and battles the myths and misconceptions the public has against HIV/AIDS. I am not some quiet person who doesn't have a voice.
I have published many articles, stories and poems, have even penned some science fiction in my time. My blog Uncle B's Corner has over 2 million visitors and read in every country in the world. I have a platform and a forum. I also am attuned to my writers voice and I know that you are hurting inside yourself and don't like you own life, but you have no right to place your burdens on me or my readers.
As I have said before and I mean it. Your Intolerance and Hate is not welcome here and if you don't have something positive and constructive to say I invite you to stop reading my blog, and my Facebook post because they are intended for my friends, and people who care about what is going on with me and what is happening in my life. Middle aged old bitter women with hidden agenda's personal bias and bigotry are not welcome here!!!
My name is Bryan Zepp, I am known as Uncle B and I write about my own personal life and experiences. I talk about issues that impact my life and I try to help people avoid the mistakes that I have made and try to soften the hurt that they might feel if they screw up. I am here to make people feel good about themselves and who they are. I preach love, happiness and light. I eschew negativity, hatred and idle prattle that means nothing. No one has the right to invade my space with their own bias, let alone their own rhetoric of intolerance. If I wanted that I would listen to mainstream media and espouse the national solidarity which I find utterly laughable. The Moral Majority with the anti-gay marriage stance is archaic and belongs in the middle ages. We are no longer saved by the law. We are cleansed and saved by Grace. Spoken by the apostles all over the new testament. The old covenant between God and Abraham was done away when the temple veil was torn in two and Christ died on the cross. If you are a true Christian and believe in the resurrection of Christ then I advise you to pull your head out of your ass and read the new testament of the Bible where you will learn that We are now saved by Grace and washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb. We no longer need intercessors we have a direct link to Heaven through Jesus Christ the Son of God.
He who hath ears let them hear, He who hath eyes let them see. God is giving us a chance to change our fate and save our world. We have it in our power to change the course that we are on. Jesus only preached love, compassion, understanding and tolerance. The world would be such a greater, safer and happier place if we all just learned that simple lesson and accepted one another for who and what we are and embraced each other in love and kindness.
As always my hopes and dreams are with you,
Uncle B
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