Who:

Two supposed-to-be friends

What:

Doing a film project on a fake product: a robot friend

Where:

At the park where I grew up, matured, and discovered that my path isn’t straight

When:

Right after school, still in my Catholic uniform

How:

One suggestion. Just to hold hands. Two girls, holding hands. To show friendship without words. And yet, the touch of the same sex and the reaction that follows is enough to destroy the very thing we are trying to portray.

“I don’t want to hold her hand,” she says
“We’ll look lesbian.”

Lesbian. Gay. Transgender. Bisexual.
Curse words at a Catholic school. Am I, then, an insult?
A Hitler, a Genghis Khan, an Osama Bin Laden?
All because I chose to like someone for their heart instead of their sex?

“I told you my sexuality, remember?”

“I’m fine with that, I just think it’s weird to see two women together”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I wouldn’t say anything rude if I saw a gay couple, I would just think ‘that’s weird’ and walk away’”

A fake smile, me ignoring

A piece of my heart, given freely, thrown out by a conversation

Why:

“Treat people the way you want to be treated”

Since when was there an asterisk saying ‘Does not apply to who have a different skin tone, a different gender, a different weight, a different sexual orientation’

Who decides who is worth more, who should be accepted more, who should be excluded?

How do you rationalize discrimination?

“I’m not saying it to their face”

Sometimes, you are

Sometimes, we can see it in your eyes, your face, your body

All the little reactions you make, we can see

And sometimes, you say things right to our faces

“It’s a joke”

“I wasn’t trying to be mean”

I don’t know the why.

Why these words come out of your mouth like daggers

Why people don’t stop after finding out that their daggers have wounded someone

Why people only notice what they are doing when the dagger wounds are visible

Why people believe that those who are different deserve to be punished 

But there is one question, bigger than all the whys in the universe

Will it ever stop?