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It Started With a Homophobe

A short story about a homophobic man with a little twist at the end

By Thorn DeathPublished 2 years ago 10 min read
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        It started with a homophobe - specifically a short one with a receding hairline and mediocre job. That was all he was back then; a regular man. He was just like everybody else. He went to a job he neither liked nor hated, lived in a house that was neither big nor small, drove a car that wasn't fancy but ran well, all the normal things. He was simple, and he liked it like that. He envied the rich, but was grateful he wasn't homeless and could eat everyday. He was very happy with what he had.

        Then someone new moved across the street. He was another man who liked his mediocre life. He said that as long as he had his honey, baseball, and a good TV for football, he's happy. The two of them got along great. It was like they were lifelong friends who had everything in common, except for the fact that the new neighbour didn't have kids, let alone three of them. Then the day came when, at a barbecue party, the neighbour brought his honey over to meet my dad.

        Everything seemed normal. My dad was kind and talkative. He took the time to get to know our neighbour's boyfriend during the party. It was nothing out of the ordinary. He didn't seem to care that his new neighbour was gay. It wasn't until after the party was over and everyone had left that we learned the truth: My dad is homophobic.

        He said that he didn't want any gays in his house around his family. He said something about not wanting to sway our sexualities. I guess it would have been better if I had kept my mouth shut. Things wouldn't have spiraled so far out of control if I did. But it didn't make sense to me, and I decided to call him on it. I pointed out to him that allowing us to watch movies that showed straight couples was influencing our sexuality. I pointed out that letting us watch shows that sexualised female homosexuality, but demonised and made fun of male homosexuality was influencing not only our sexuality, but also our mindset. I told him that our sexualities are influenced a little bit everytime we turn on the TV or the radio and even when he kisses our mom. I think that got in his head, but it had the exact opposite affect that I hoped it would.

        He banned us from TV and from listening to music. If we got caught, we got grounded. He went through all of our books, read every single one, and threw away all of the ones that mentioned dating, sex, or marriage. That includes some of my Babysitter Club books. For some of them, he only tore out a few pages because he didn't think the whole book was "contaminated". I tried to talk to my mom, to see if she could get him to chill out, but she said he didn't want to hear it. That was when we were standing in the backyard watching him burn some of our favourite toys, including our Barbies. It wasn't until I saw him blacking out some of the definitions in the dictionary that I determined he had absolutely lost his mind. Our home became totally sex-free. So much so that he moved out of his and my mom's room.

        That wasn't good enough though. Valentine's Day came around and my sister got a card that read "ur hot". He took all of our cards away and burned them. We weren't allowed back at school after that. He pulled us out and started homeschooling us. Everything sex and romance was forbidden. We could still dress how we wanted and we could still call our body parts their actual names, but everything else was off limits. I thought he had totally lost it until our mom sat us down to give the talk about our changing bodies. She wasn't allowed to get too specific about it, but we at least got to learn that we get a period every month because our body is preparing for us to have sex and get pregnant. She broke the rules a little bit by telling us that sex and romance is nothing bad, that he was just taking things too far. I admire her for that. Not a whole lot of parents want to tell their children that sex drive is completely normal and not something to be ashamed of. I can't imagine how screwed up I would be if all I heard growing up was "sex is bad, everyone who has sex is a harlot".

        We thought that would be the end. We thought that romance and sexuality was dead inside our house and that would be the end of it. It wasn't. He started a petition to get sex off the radio. A lot of parents loved the idea and signed it. Everyone agreed that there's no point in having that filthy music on the radio since YouTube exists. Even though I don't like to admit that I agreed with anything my dad did in regards to this, I did like the idea. Most people who listen to the actual radio are children, so I understood where he was coming and supported him on that one. I celebrated with him when the petition made it to our local office and again when it passed. Songs and talk shows about sex stopped playing on the radio and we were allowed to listen to music again.

        After that, he started another petition to get sex off TV. A lot of the moms signed it, but the dads didn't see the big deal. They said TV should be pleasurable viewing and the sex makes it more pleasurable. That got even more women to sign it. He managed to get a bunch of his dad friends to sign it by pointing out the sexualisation of young girls on it. He got them to think about what that could be doing to their own daughters by making them feel like women are peices of meat. He brought up a lot of sexual harassment that he's witnesses with us whenever we've been out together. Some cases happened before any of us had started puberty. It disturbed them, so they signed. Sex, romance, and the conversation of them was taken off the television.

        Dad went after porn sites next. He said they were normalising pedophilia and rape. It only took a week for that one to take effect. Everyone in town agreed immediately. I'm not sure how they did it, but now porn sites can't be reached anywhere in town. You have to actually leave in order to watch porn. We were allowed to have our computer back after that.

        Adult videos, visual novels, and books were taken out of stores and libraries. If it wasn't appropriate for children, it wasn't allowed. Sex shops were torn down too. Some people thought it was too extreme, but a lot of the locals were thrilled, especially the ones who wanted to be authors. Their books started getting published and sold in town. It was good business for them. Some of them quickly became local celebrities. I imagine they loved that feeling. Soon, we had people making their books, comics, and movies all the time. A lot of people were happy with it. Once they got enough views, the community would help spread them around the country. I know a lot of bestselling authors and filmmakers personally because of it.

        Mom told us it was going to end after that. She said that would be good enough. We were all hopeful. But that's the funny thing about our dad: you don't actually know what's going to happen next.

        I'm not sure how he did it, but suddenly no one was allowed to be romantic or sexual in public. That meant people weren't allowed to make sex jokes and couples couldn't even hold hands. If you did and got caught, you'd be fined instantly. A lot of the single women, and some of the men, were happy about it because that meant sexual harassment was illegal. They finally felt safe walking somewhere or doing anything outside of their house. The couples though, well, they weren't very pleased. They weren't allowed to introduce their partner as their partner. It was considered "pushing their sexuality" onto others. You weren't allowed to say it in your own house either. Public and outdoor weddings were banned. You couldn't get married in a church, or in your backyard. Wedding rings were allowed, but only if you weren't showing it off. If you did, you received a warning and a fine. If you did it a second time, you were banned from wearing it outside for up to three months. Some people never got permission to wear their rings outside again because they wouldn't stop showing it to people and talking about their wedding or marriage, something you can only do inside when you're asked.

        Dad didn't hang out with his gay neighbour again until all of these laws were in place. Darian, the neighbour, knew our dad was why him and his husband can't act like normal people, but I think that he continued being his friend because of how far he too it. Everyone was suffering, not just Darian and Kyle and all the other non-heterosexuals in town. I think that seeing my dad, the guy who came up with the laws, suffering because of them made him feel a little bit better about the homophobic behaviour.

        Everytime I talk about this, I talk about it in the past tense. I recall all of it like it's something that has happened, not something that's still happening. One of my sisters has a daughter, but she isn't allowed to talk about her with anyone unless they specifically ask first, just because it lets people know she's had sex before. There are people who think that's a good idea, but she can't even bring up her own daughter if there's an emergency. If, at some point, Alice has to be rushed to the hospital, my sister can't call anyone and tell them. She can't call me and say my niece is in the hospital, just that someone is. She's not allowed to introduce Alice as her daughter or refer to her as such unless someone tells her it's okay. It's inconvenient and ridiculous. But there are no exceptions.

        All of these laws were created simply because my father didn't like that his across-the-street neighbour is in a homosexual relationship. All of these lives are being inconvenienced and horribly controlled because of one man who didn't like knowing that he might see a man kiss another man every once in a while. Just because he thinks it's "unnatural", despite the fact that animals and insects in nature are sometimes homosexual themselves. All because of one homophobe. And he admits that's exactly what he is.

        I can only imagine how he would respond if I told him that I'm a lesbian and I have a girlfriend. I can only imagine what laws he'll try to get our local government to enforce next when I bring my adopted son over to meet him next week. Oh, how hot those flames will be.

Humanity
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About the Creator

Thorn Death

"Here lies a resting place for dark minds."

Sharing my stories, articles, and photographs

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