Beware of Darkness

Yesterday I took part in an election in an organization I’ve belonged to for nine years. I knew there was a person in power who is an admitted homophobe; she actually wanted us to put a note on the new membership page saying we would read no gay or lesbian material. The board voted that down. One of her more ridiculous comments was “all gay writing is porn.”

So we, the other members of the board, had to do some educating–about what gay literature is and is not, about civil liberties, and about how she was kinda asking us to break the law because she thinks it’s a sin to be gay.

This morning, after a night of reflection and reading, I resigned from that organization because this person remains on the board and with the election shaking out the way it did, I had little hope she would be ousted any time soon.

The irony is I worked in harmony with this woman for eight years before she began making racist and homophobic statements to not just the board, but to me privately. Be careful who you befriend, my friends. Sometimes they are hiding a darker side. I’m not sure why her darkness has started seeping out now, but I am sure that I want no truck with it.

So I’m done with that volunteer position on which I spent so much time and energy and moving on to better things. Hate has no place in my heart or my life.