AlterNet: Young and Gay in the Bible Belt [View All]

Young and Gay in the Bible Belt: 'My Mom Came at Me With a Butcher Knife!'

By Bernadette C. Barton , AlterNet. Posted April 15, 2009.

For many Bible Belt gays, "home" is not a haven from the outside world. Home may be more dangerous than the streets.



The crisis gay youth face in the Bible Belt struck home particularly hard for me this week while dining with members of a gay/straight alliance in a small Southern town.

After asking the conversation-opener of the group -- "So, would you like to all share your coming out stories with me?" -- a young woman on my right named Angie* immediately burst out, "My mother came at me with a butcher knife!"

Stunned, I was trying to process this when a young woman to my left whispered, "You don't want to hear my story, it's too violent." More violent than your mother attacking you with a butcher knife? How is that possible? What does that mean?

I usually visit with the gay/straight alliance students during my campus visits. At this particular tiny university town in a remote corner of the South, we had a room to ourselves at a not-very-fancy Chinese restaurant in a strip mall. The students were adorable -- sweet, eager to please, charming.

Sipping hot oolong tea, I tried to wrap my mind around the image of my mother, the person who is supposed to love me the most, coming at me with a big knife. Blood-soaked footage from the movie Carrie filled my head. I thought, "Your mother is the one who's supposed to protect you from the person holding the butcher knife, not be the person wielding it. What kind of psychological damage does this do?" ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/sex/136610/young_and_gay_in_the_bible_belt%3A_%27my_mom_came_at_me_with_a_butcher_knife%21%27/