That's not very ladylike.

Honey, how was your day? Homophobic? Yeah, mine too.

Last night over dinner my wife and I did the usual “how was your day” talks. And for both of us there was a common trend of bigotry.

For Natalie it was having to take over a situation in which one of her reps was attempting to handle an angry customer who was disgusted with gay & lesbian “smut” that Netflix allows on their website. By the time Natalie took over the call, the woman was saying things like “my kids can see this filth” and “your company has a gay agenda and I won’t allow it in my home”. Natalie said she could literally hear the hate in this woman’s voice. This was BY FAR not the first time she has handled this exact complaint…and in fact she’s noticed that these calls are coming in with an even higher frequency.

For me, I’m facing accusations that I ONLY hire gay people, and then favor said gay people and ostracize anyone who is straight. This claim has absolutely no validity and is being waged as a knee jerk reaction by a person who feels under attack. Considering I have hired only 5 gay people (out of a staff of 23) and have then proceeded to fire 3 of those 5 people is obviously enough evidence of the validity of this claim…but it still hurts to have who am I as a person used against who I am as a person running a business. I hire PEOPLE. People who are qualified. Plain and simple. The end.

Thankfully my wife and I both work for companies that take great pride in their support of the gay and lesbian community. We both work for companies that shake their metaphorical heads at these people who attempt to use the notion of accepting gays and lesbians against us.

Working for companies where we feel free to be openly gay is great…but what’s even better is working for companies where we feel free to be outraged by people that act the way the people did to us on days like yesterday. Feeling the freedom to be hurt, or angry, or just feel pissed off is absolutely priceless.

I have not always had this feeling of safety at work. I have been asked to take of my wedding ring, refrain from mentioning my wife, refrain from mentioning my partner, refrain from answering “yes” when people ask if I’m married. I’ve been asked to “let people assume she’s your sister” when discussing being “allowed” to bring my wife to company Christmas parties and the like.

But not anymore. I chose this job, with THIS company so that those things would never happen to me again.

I know that things like this will always happen. It’s not the first time for either of this to have days like this, but just because I’m not surprised that it happens, doesn’t change the fact that it still makes me feel like something less than a human being.

I am not “a lifestyle”.

I do not have an “agenda”.

I am a person with a wife, and a home, and an ordinary life.

Just because I’d like to watch a movie with a love story I can ACTUALLY relate to, does not necessarily mean that I want to watch gay porn. And just because I hire gay people, does not mean that I ONLY hire gay people.

I just want to live my life and go through the day as a human being. No agenda, just me, my wife, and our simple little life. This is not too much to ask.

life as a gay