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They asked me if I had a gay poem
So I said "Straight up, no!
"My poems don't deviate between straight lines
My poems don't mince their words
Or bend
Or make queer little observations"

They asked me if I had a gay poem
So I answered honestly
That, no, I didn't have any gay poetry
And even if, unthinkably, I did
What would it say about me?

I mean, even presenting the question
Puts me in a precarious position
And how would I even begin to broach the subject
With my own creation?

Like... "Excuse me, poem, are you gay?
Have you grown up contrarily to what I wanted you to say?
I most certainly didn't write you that way
Was it something I said, something I did that turned you?
Maybe I should have peppered your verses
With sport, girls and beer
Maybe as your author I deserted you...
Or did another writer turn you queer?"

Ok, let's say, hypothetically, that this poem is gay
Maybe it's just a confused poem that needs straightening out
Maybe I could insert verses from Leviticus
Speak over it in tongues
Douse it in holy water
Recite it the Qu'ran
Give it a beat, beat, beat
Boom box blasting out in the street

They asked me if I had a gay poem
And I answered "No"
But the truth is I didn't know
Until one of my very own poems stepped up
And tapped me on the shoulder
It said, "Look here Dad/Author
I'm now that much bolder
And I'm not confused
And not alternative
And even though the words I choose to marry with
Make me different
It don't make me any less eloquent

"I don't need to be overly elegant
So maybe that's why I stepped under your gaydar
But why are you so afraid to embrace it?
Face it! It's just another part of me
You can't erase it

"The more you try to label me with your twisted synonyms
The more you say you hate the sinner
And despise the sin
The more you try to clip my words
And stifle my expression
The more I know it's you, not me,
Whose morality should be called into question"

They asked me to read out a poem
They said, "Choose one of your strongest
One of your best
Choose a poem that don't stand for any foolishness"
And they asked me if I had a gay poem...
So I said
Yes.

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As an LGBT+ supporter and a bisexual female, I feel that gay couples should continued to be valued. It's good that we've finally legalized gay marriage, but there's still people in the world and our country spreading hate towards the community. Especially with the concerns of our future  vice president elect and president elect. I still have hope that gay and lesbian people would still have the same rights as any other person. I'm very glad that there's much more diversity in sexuality in today's entertainment, more artists coming out. But we still need a lot of work to show that. We still need to be educated about this topic to children and adults. I don't see religion as a bad thing. I see religion as showing love to one another. We shouldn't see religion to show hate against each other. To everyone. Love is love.

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After that poem, I came up with another poem. This is basically a small story about a girl falling in love with a guy. She thinks that after falling in love with him, everything is all set in stone. She’s going to get married with this guy, have children, all that stuff. She was going to be happy. Until things don’t go too well with her and the guy. Whatever happens to the guy and her is all up to reader. There’s many things that could’ve caused it. She was too good for him. But she needed a relief, that’s when she met this girl. She continues to spend time with this women. Slowly, they do fall in love. Both support each other and keep each other safe. She starts to realize, does she always have to follow the rules? Does the list apply to everyone? Does it apply to her? Eventually, she ends up with the girl. It’s okay to not have everything set and stone. With new experiences, we are able to find ourselves, who we truly are.

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Wilson, Suzanne. "Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents Are Not More Likely to Have Problems." Opposing Viewpoints in Context [Gale].  N.p., 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Lampo, David. "Same-Sex Marriage Does Not Impact Religious Freedom." Opposing Viewpoints in Context [Gale]. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Lipp, Murray. "Same-Sex Marriage Benefits Society in Many Ways." Opposing Viewpoints in Context [Gale]. N.p., 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

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(scroll down in the Google Doc to find this piece).

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This was at first a poem. This short story explains how gay/lesbian couples are need to be heard. I feel as if we should value these people as we would value others. We shouldn’t push these people away. They need love and support too.

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