change of subject from Trump indictment boliviation.

I'll put the TL;DR at the top. Last year a gay coworker and i were talking on a zoom and he asked me (ignorantly) about monkeypox because he heard about it but didn't know much. I told him it was mostly spreading among gay men. He was shocked that it wasn't in the news, and i (stupidly) replied, "i know you and i don't see eye to eye on your lifestyle, but I think you should know because i care about you." He took me not agreeing with his lifestyle as discrimination and tried to get an HR complaint.

Damn. that's still too long.

_____________

I work for a small mom and pop shop. We have a variety of political opinions from avid Trump lover to never Trump republican to complete libertarian (me) to typical democrat. All in the company claim to be Christian.

I have a gay coworker. we get along well. last summer, we were on a company zoom and waiting for some late joiners. We were talking about COVID and how things had died down. he said "3nout, whatever happened with that other thing? pox of some sort?"

i collected my thoughts, knowing that this guy only consumed CNN type news, doesn't really think very critically, and knows that i'm a christian and while i disagree with his current life choices, still love him.

i say "well xyz, it's spread mainly amongst gay men through physical touch. i'm genuinely sorry you didn't know that."

"Really? why in the hell doesn't the news or CDC make that known????"

sigh... "look, i know that you and i disagree about this, and i'm sorry if it comes off in any way harsh, but i care about you, and i think you should know that. it's freely available information, but not publicized because it would seem a little condemning of gay men. I hope that comes off better than i meant."

"no, no. you're telling me something the news didn't thank you."

____

fast forward a few months. he decides to start posting some pretty obscene LGBTQ stuff, talking about drag shows on social media AND names our company in a few posts.

my boss knows that he's friends on facebook with a few customers and industry peers. he says, i don't want to tell you what you can and can't say, but you may not post about drag show where a guy is walking around with prosthetic breasts while being friends with some of our customers.

he gets angry and my boss says, i can't post about going to a strip show or burlesque show. that would reflect poorly on our company. he agreed, but then said, he feels like he's discriminated against at our company. 3nout told him that he's a sinner for being gay.

my boss says, "i know 3nout and his character, he did not just come up and tell you that you were sinning for being gay."

"he did, and i'm happy to bring lawyers into it."

then my boss explained that he advertised a show that was known to have had a man exposing fake breasts in front of children and one of our peers commented about it. 3nout has a stellar reputation in our industry, and has never been a problem in our workplace, but he however has been.

he decided against charges. my boss told me this while we were traveling this week. it actually wounded me a bit. while i have a typical christian view of the homosexual lifestyle, i have no hatred, and think that it would be better for him to have known that monkeypox was spreading the way it was.

all this is to say, i think i'm done being "accepting" of the gay lifestyle. if i'm going to be honest in an act of kindness, and doing my best to stop you from being susceptible to an STD is interpreted as discrimination, frick you. and frick dancing around your feelings. i'm done with being nice about this stuff.

sorry, thanks for the venting allowance.

ETA: i'll leave the foul language up there, but i'm sorry to my brothers and sisters in Christ. it's just an incredibly angering thing to know that kindness won't be met in kind.

This post was edited on 3/31/23 at 1:57 pm