It gets better?

It doesn't get better. Ask the kid who sits in a classroom with the words "fag," "homo," "gay," "queer," and "lesbo" flying around his head. Ask the mom whose teenage daughter begs her not to tell her father the truth, because it's not what's he's always wanted for his little girl. Ask the college freshmen whose belongings have been trashed and mounded against the entrance to the bedroom once the secret was out. Ask the Dad who evades questions about his son's taste in toys. Ask the kid who sits at the dining room table and hears how gays are ruining the church because they are all pedophiles. Does it get better? No. It doesn't. Still think so? Ask the men waiting to adopt a baby in their state but can't because they both have penises. Or the couple who can't see each other in the ICU because they aren't "family." Ask the millions of people who live in a state who vote against gay marriage or civil unions. We may want to feel good about ourselves as we whisper, "gay brother" behind cupped hands at preschool to our friends or when we feel that the world is just so much better now because "there is a gay couple living in my neighborhood....you must know them, right?" Truth is, it's not getting better anytime soon. We are lying to the millions of loyal You-Tube followers with false promises of bright horizons when we continue to let bigotry stand in the place of freedom. We lie to ourselves when we allow such events to occur because it doesn't affect me, with my minivan, kids, and husband in tow. We continue to let hatred and prejudice prevail while blaming it on the Bible instead of blaming it on personal prejudice. I hope for my children's sake that this time in history is looked upon in disgust as we shun at the idea of "coloreds only-anything." How can we promise so much better to our children when we have nothing to show for it?