Hi!

Guess what I got in the mail today?

Now no one has an excuse anymore to not watch this film. Because I own it.

So last night I was making myself a peanut butter and jelly sammich, and as I was browsing the jelly options in the fridge, I found something intriguing. Since I found out last summer that we had numerous jars of different flavored jellies lying around the house –almost all of which were expired– I’ve been diligent about throwing them away.

First, we have some raspberry spread:

And it’s almost empty but at least it hasn’t expired yet:

Then we had the ever famous apricot spread:

And this one only had a sell by date, not an expiration date:

Which I thought was kind of strange.

And we also had a jar of Strawberry Spreadable Fruit with Fiber:

And we’re on a roll:

None of these fruit spreads have expired and they’re all almost empty.

But then behind the jar of Strawberry Spreadable Fruit with Fiber was another jar of Strawberry preserves:

And it’s half empty.

and hasn’t been good in almost two and a half years.

HOW DID THIS GET INTO MY HOUSE? HOW? I NEED TO KNOW.

So today marks the 6th Annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day. Where bloggers write about different topics related to LGBT families. I learned about this event from Brigid,  you can read her entry here. I’ve been thinking about if I wanted to participate this year or not for a while now and if I did decide to join in, what I would write about. Would I write about how the bible is a bunch of bullshit that is being used to discriminate against queer people for the sanctity of traditional values (which, by the way, are not the same traditional values found in the book that people base their prejudice on.)?

No.

Because I don’t believe that the bible is a reliable or valid source of information for ethics, morals, or even in historical context. I think the Bible and everything written in it is fake, untrue, and completely fictional.

And if you tell me that you believe in The Bible

I’m going to assume that you’re a hypocrite.

Because you are.

And I am too but for different reasons.

The only time I pass judgement on someone is when they say and do two contradictory things. And I’ve never met a Christian who has given everything he or she has to the poor and lived a life of poverty.

Which is why I don’t feel like I need to address anyone who throws their religious beliefs in my face. They will never change my mind and they certainly don’t practice what they preach so why would I pay them any attention?  I’d also like to point out that I have my fair share of religious friends and associates, most of whom know my stance on religion. I see religion kind of like a character flaw. It’s a part of some of my friends’ lives and I don’t agree with it but I like my religious friends just as much as I like my non-relgious friends and we all just agree to disagree because we like each other and we understand that their faith and my lack of faith is just one aspect of who we are. You’re never going to like everything about a person but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the company of others.

What I do what to talk about today isn’t necessarily a topic related to queer families. It’s more about a queer guy and…

his family.

This is just the maternal side of my family. I’m one of twelve grandchildren and the only one who currently openly identifies as anything close to queer.

I hear stories all of the time about queer teens (some kids as young as eleven) being kicked out of their homes  because their parents or guardians or other family members don’t like the fact that these kids were born to be something other than straight and cisgender.

And I’ve been fortunate.

Because no one on either side of my family has a problem with my transition. When my mother told her mother that I was transitioning my grandmother started to cry. Not because she was upset about who I am or because she didn’t accept me. She cried because she couldn’t believe how long I had been suffering in silence.

On Sunday, I went to one of my relatives house for a Memorial Day barbecue and to celebrate my birthday and three other cousins’ birthdays.

At first I was really nervous about it, especially considering that the last time I saw my extended family was on Easter Sunday…

and I did not fare well, I only stayed for about an hour (while most of my family was in church) before I left to go back to school.

But this time, it went much better. When I first got there I was really nervous and kind of just kept to myself. I didn’t really know what to say to anyone or how much they knew about my transition and I was pretty uncomfortable. But as the party carried on I found myself realizing that this family get-together

was no different than any other family get-together we’d ever had. The only person who was uncomfortable about Gabe being there

was Gabe.

My family does, what all families should.

We love each other unconditionally.

Which means there are no conditions.

And that’s what I learned this weekend, something that I’ve been told my whole life but never really understood until now.

And now I have to go catch a train into the city.

I’ll see you tomorrow.