Ellis Padgett- Assignment #4- My Neighborhood Has a Good Gaydar

I grew up in a sea of red.  My neighbors proudly sport their Make America Great Again hats to the pool daily; they speak on controversial ideas, all looking one way.  I- a black sheep- face the other.  My neighborhood is a sea of conservative people.  I happen to think a bit differently.  This of course is typically not an issue.  I don't argue; I go about my own ways, and look at arguments from a place of understanding rather than anger.  I walk among them unnoticed...yet my friend does not. 
In eighth grade one of my greatest friends cut her hair short, looked me in the eye, and told me she was gay.  All my life I had grown up surrounded by traditional families, both within my family and in the larger community.  But suddenly that didn't matter; this was my friend sitting in front of me, and I loved her all the same.  To me, that moment was just another facet of the real world making its appearance in my life as I grew.  And that was that. 
Life goes on; we continued through the sea of red to jump in the sea of blue- the neighborhood pool.  But something had changed.  Eyes peered up at us from sunglasses, teenagers stopped looking our way.  We were getting weird looks, and I bet I could figure out why.  Suddenly, my friend was not welcomed as warmly to my home.  And years later when she got a girlfriend, she wasn't welcome either. 
My mind was confused, sad, and then angry.  Here was a girl I had known since preschool, a member of my community as much as anybody else.  We had grown up together.  And her sexuality did not define who she was as a person.  It is a touchy topic- I understand that.  Yet from my point of view, trying to keep her out of our lives was simply a thinly veiled attempt at avoiding confrontation with what makes you uncomfortable.  If we don't confront our fears or invite circumstances that make us question our beliefs, how will we grow?  Maintaining a one-way vision does not make your source of dilemma disappear- it just divides us as humans even more.
I don't want to live in a world where we don't come together to work out our differences.  Moreover, I don't want to live in a world without my friend.  That is why I raised my voice and told my family to allow my friend and girlfriend to come with us to the pool.
They both ended up coming to the pool with us.  And her girlfriend was very nice.