PRIDE 2016 – Toronto -♥- Sweet Juicy Heart at the Awaken Studio

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I am so tired of the voices of hatred, derision and division… All in the name of a gigantic corporate fabrication… All in the name of what is America… All in the name of what is resistance… All in the name of progress…

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To be told, “You don’t know anything about persecution!”

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The lives of many gay men are filled with visceral and violent experiences of hatred, loathing, shunning, verbal, mental and physical abuse.

To be told that these men know nothing of discrimination, hatred and sexist homophobia is, to me, intolerable.

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Shout out! Shout out you message of hatred!

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Tell your message to the 6 year old who is shunned because he plays with a different set of toys… Tell that your message to the 12 year old pushed, shoved, shouted at and pushed down to the ground as those around kicked….Tell your message to the 14 year old who was ridiculed, shamed and beaten simply for being different… Tell your message to the 15 year old hijacked and dropped in the woods 10 miles out town… Tell your message to the 16 year old whose cloths were laced with lye and had burns all over his body… Tell your message to the 17 year old who was teased, ridiculed punched, kicked, beaten all because his cloths were different…Tell your message to the 18 year old who was told don’t worry you will get over it… Tell your message to to the 25 year old that he “can not see his lover” in the emergency room, unconscious, lying in a coma in a shrouded deathly hospital bed… Tell your message to the 28 year old that he is not family and that his LOVE is illegal… Tell your message to the 30 year old that those guys who are going to beat you are justified because you live your life out loud and proud, that he has no RIGHT to be GAY and so QUEER…Tell your message to the 35 year old store owner whose windows were egged by those who could only hate… Tell your message to the 40 year old who is told that it is better to be a man than gay… Tell your message to the 45 year old who was told another friend has died, another loved one has been taken… Tell your message to the 50 year old that his voice is irrelevant and no one cares about what he wants for his community… Tell your message to the 55 year old who was able to conquer a life filled with loathing and bring love and tenderness back to his family.

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No angry message of hatred can penetrate. No angry message of hatred can derail my life. I have lived far too long and have too much PRIDE for my life and for the accomplishments and successes that I have brought to the world. Your message of hatred and exclusion could never convert me and have me think that I am anything but positive, inclusive and welcoming of all diversity in my life. You unknowingly, paint me with a brush filled with your anger, hatred and loathing. This poisonous brush seems to cover all men, all white men, all gay white men. You and your egregious and righteous anger can never, ever convince me that I am a racist, that I know nothing but privilege, that I am exclusionary and that I am intolerant. You know nothing of my life and you know nothing of what I have been through to get to where I am today.

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Out of the pain and hurt that I have felt all of my life, your message of hatred will fall on deaf ears. Your message of hatred, divisiveness and exclusion will fall silent to me. I will go on with my life. You will go on with your rage filled existence. I will continue to give and partake in community, life, happiness, joy and and love. BECAUSE I am GAY!

BECAUSE I have all of these HURTS!

BECAUSE I have lived my life to the fullest and richest that I can possibly have ever dreamt of.

BECAUSE I have given myself every opportunity I could possible take despite the poverty, adversity, hatred and prejudice that I have learned to live with.

BECAUSE I have learned to utilize your hatred to my greatest advantage.

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PRIDE 2016 Toronto

#awakeningheart #DivinginDeep #RadicallyQUEERToronto #Spirit