Queer People
by Cheyenne

You'd rather have you closeted kids be unhappy
Than out and proud, and have to listen to the endless
Talk at the country club about the town's new
Rainbow prince.
You'd rather tell your best friend he's going to hell
Than remember that he's the one who built a tree house with you when you were ten
And went to detention with you in middle school so you wouldn't be lonely.
Some people couldn't even say the word 'homosexual'.
Even if their mouth was full of one.
Is that you?
Some parents think their kids aren't gay, just too warm
And kick them out on the freezing streets to fight or die
As some form of 'tough love' that might 'cure' them.
Is that you?
Strangers on the news.
Attacked with a baseball bat.
Kicked endlessly in their head and left to die.
Tied to a fence and beaten to death.
And you'd rather shrug and laugh it off.
'Another less faggot'.
And go on about your life, than shed a tear
And admit human decency
Besides, giving a damn about queers
Will make people think you are one
And then your life would be over.
You'd rather hire an incompetent heterosexual
Than a qualified gay man to spread his gay germs everywhere.
A friend tells another fag joke
And you laugh along, cuz ignorance in the short run
Is easier than enlightenment.
And when it comes to AIDS, you'd rather blame it all on them anyways
Than admit affects men, women, and children all over the world
Gay, straight, and everything in between.
That would be too much responsibility that could be dropped onto someone else.
People think queer means anybody that isn't straight.
But you're only truly queer if you refuse to love at all.