Acceptance should be a family value

I'm always amazed at how easy it is to be judged as well as how easy it is to judge. It's done all the time, oftentimes without a realization. We discover that someone is passing judgement on us, and in return we begin doing the same to that individual.

This realization occurred to me two weeks ago when my fiancé and I were on the receiving end of such judgment. The man with the bias is a family member and it seems as if we have officially come full circle. 15ish years ago, I was cast out of half my family as a result of coming out. Since then, a relationship has again been established with them and we were all at a semi-comfortable peace. You can imagine my surprise when the day after Christmas I received a very unpleasant string of messages telling me of my immoral and wrong ways....again. This man felt that after 15 years, it was time to revisit the bias and repreach the hate. What amuses me most is that his main argument was that he needed to "protect the children" from me. Protect the children? From what? Lesbian contamination? Homosexual toxicity? The thing is this: isn't it more important to "protect the children" from hate, bias, and prejudice? And if so, is that not the exact values that *he* is teaching them? Quite the conundrum, isn't it?

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly acceptance gets reversed the moment someone's knowledge and pride gets threatened. How do we teach acceptance and forgiveness if it does not get put into practice? It seems that it should be a family value. I ask not for approval. Hell, I don't care if people approve or not...that's their problem, not mine. But I do ask for acceptance...because this is who I am and this is all I will ever be.