I attended the Drag Show during Pride Week here at Tech. I had never been to one before, nor did I know much about drag, so I decided it would be a good choice for this specific posting. It was definitely different than what I was expecting. To explain why attending this event was out of my comfort zone, I should probably give some background information about myself...
I grew up a WELS Lutheran. I went to church every Sunday. I attended a WELS Lutheran grade school and continued on to a WELS Lutheran high school. Even the town I'm from is a fairly "Christian" area. I pretty much lived in a bubble, meaning that I'd not being exposed to homosexuals, transgenders, or anything besides heterosexual people. If you met someone, you just assumed they were straight. You didn't have to think about being politically correct by asking someone if they had a "partner" versus specifically a boyfriend or girlfriend. Of course I knew what the term "gay" referred to. I knew of people that were gay, but no one personally. I knew what drag queens were, but I don't think I had seen any in real life before this. The point is, I've never really been around the gay community until I came to school here. Homosexuality is not something that I celebrate or take pride in, but I am in no way, shape, or form a "homophobe" or think that homosexuals are less of human beings, or that they should rot in hell, like most people assume I would since I'm a Lutheran. At the drag show, however, I felt very awkward and uncomfortable. It was on the day the state of Michigan legalized gay marriage, so that made everyone even more fired up and excited than they normally would be. Honestly, it was overwhelming. For the first 18 years of my life I had not been around homosexual people (generally speaking). So when I was in a room surrounded by people of that lifestyle, I felt like nothing. Literally like a speck of dirt on the ground. I think I felt this way because it was so "in my face", for lack of better words. I have good friends up here that are homosexuals, but it's not like the only thing we talk about is their sexual preference. I know that they're gay, but it's not like I treat them any differently because of it, or like I can't be friends with them anymore because they have a different sexual orientation than me. But when it comes right down to it, I believe that the lifestyle they are living is wrong. This would be the time where most people would jump on my back and accuse me of being a bigot Jesus freak who is a terrible person and has her head up her butt. I was actually afraid to write this post because I thought I would get a bad grade since I'm saying I believe homosexuality is a sin. But you know what? So is stealing, lying, being greedy, committing adultery, and a whole list of other things. I can truthfully say I have committed all these sins, and therefore am no better or worse than homosexuals. The truth is that we all sin everyday. Many people fail to realize that even though I believe that homosexual people are sinners, I also believe that I am a sinner. And without God the Father sending his son Jesus to live a perfect life, die on a cross, and rise from the dead on Easter Sunday, I would have absolutely no chance of receiving forgiveness and would not be able to enter heaven someday.
I guess I didn't mean to lecture you about the WELS Lutheran faith, but I just wanted to clue you in how important my faith is to me. And that's why I felt so uncomfortable at this event. For the first time in my life I felt like my faith meant absolutely nothing. I felt like if people there knew I was a Christian they would throw me out of the university. I was actually kind of scared to be there. But the real world isn't like the bubble that I grew up in. The real world is full of people who have much different beliefs and values than I. Just because they don't believe the same things as me, will that prevent me from working with them? Will that make me build a house deep in the woods so I don't have to associate myself with them? Of course not.
The drag show was all about being proud of who you are. At this drag show, if you were gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual, you didn't have to be scared that others would make fun of you, because I'm sure if they're open about their sexuality, they've received some harshness/bullying from the outside world. It was almost like the social tables had turned a little bit. Instead of a gay person feeling reserved or uncomfortable about who they are, I was the one who felt very self-conscious about who I am and what I believe in. Even though I felt uncomfortable and if given the chance, I probably won't attend one again, it probably wasn't the worst thing I could have done. It opened my eyes a little bit. This is what the world looks like today. I can't run and hide from it, or pretend like it doesn't exist. It is our human nature to be prejudice. Homosexual people are judged and ridiculed all the time, but our society is moving away from that. I am judged because of my religion, but mostly because people fail to realize what my faith is actually about. The only one who has a right to judge us is God, because only he can see what is in our hearts. I'm glad I don't live in my little bubble anymore, but I also will not abandon my faith while living in today's society.
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