Time to speak up a little louder.

 I have to address an elephant in the room. One that I have skirted around confronting directly. And I feel more and more that I need to. 

There is not a moral equivalence between being homosexual and being a pedophile or groomer. There is a not a moral equivalence between being bisexual and an adulterer. There just isn't.

Now some people maybe surprised that such a declaration has to be made. But I feel I have to. Most of my childhood I heard about how sinful homosexuality was. How deviant it was. How much worse it was than any other sexual sin. 

I still here people muse and wonder how anyone could be gay. Then the very next line from those musing is how people who are gay are groomed into. There's an element of predation surrounding it all. 

When I'm around such talk in the current era I'm usually silent. Sitting watching people shred others. And I'm ashamed of that. I feel I need to speak up more and more. 

See they're talking about me. Yep, me, the bisexual. They're talking about several of my mission compatriots who came out of the closet after years of dedicated service to be true to themselves. They're talking about a mission companion who transitioned. They're talking about uncles and cousins I've always looked up to. They're talking about some of the kindest classmates I had in high school. They're talking about many soldiers I served with. And they're misrepresenting them all. 

These are people I know of the utmost kindness and dedication. People who's relationships model fidelity care and devotion. Good people. 

I can't keep standing by and let people talk about members of the LGBTIA+ community as dangerous. I can't anymore. 

This isn't some recently garnered courage. This is overcoming shame and guilt for years. This is me trying to make things better. Make things right. 

I can't stand by and let people I know be characterized as evil and vilified anymore.

The worst part of all of this is that the most vocally opposed have no members of the LGBTQIA+ community in their circles, in their lives. They have no real interaction. They have no care or charity for someone not like them in reality. 

That needs to change. And maybe I can be that person. Maybe I can introduce them to their person. Or at least show another side. 

Regardless of how it plays out. I can't be silent anymore. 

We can't keep scapegoating and vilifying groups of people. Especially those still marginalized. I have to do better.