The other Thomas [QUEERS]

            In 1966 I was taking Army basic training at Ft. Leonard wood. It was just a wonderful time. (I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me.) The Drill Sergeants were some of the sweetest guys. (Their gruff mean looks were just cover.) A person couldn’t have asked for better clothes or accommodations (and lived). The food was great! (If it helps any I also like hospital food.) The days were just bliss times ten! (I still have dreams about them.) Barracks life was wonderful. Every day we learned new and delightful things about the world and people. Physical Therapy was provided for those needing it. (As it turned out everyone needed it.) PT was the perfect weight loss program as well. The trainers provided personal attention along with positive reinforcement.  It was a reward-based system.

            There were some difficulties that we had to work out on our own.

            A couple of weeks in my mother posed a problem for me. The First Sergeant called me out in morning formation. “Private Thomas step forward!” There were several other Thomases. He whittled it down to just me with some thoughtful questions. As it turned out my mother had called the First Sergeant. Seems that she told him that I hadn’t written or called and she was concerned. The First Sergeant told me that I should call my “mama” when we finished training for the day and before eating. Then he had me step back in formation.

            That was one brutal (I’m going to use a grawlix here) #&*!% day. BRUTAL. At the end of the day I was still able to get to the phone. I did call home and ask mom why in God’s name she would call my First Sergeant. Turns out the Company Commander wasn’t in. Sweet Jesus, that day could have been much worse.

            It probably bears mentioning here that mom had a history of calling the authorities on or about us. Me: “Mom you really shouldn’t call the police on me. You don’t know what I might be doing!” Mom: “You better not be doing anything illegal!” Me: “But you see the police think that I must be up to something because you called.” Mom: “An even better reason then not to be doing anything bad.” When the police actually show up at the house. Sheriff: “Do you have a son?” Dad:  “I’ve got 3 of them. Which one do you want?” Me: Walking up the street and seeing all the squad cars in front of the house, turning around and heading the other way pretending that I lived somewhere else.

            But the call-out in morning formation exacerbated another problem that I had been dealing that had almost gotten me into some fights. There was another Thomas in my platoon with the same first and last name. Hence our bunks were close together. Our middle initials were different. Compounding the problem is we both wore glasses, were about the same size and dressed exactly the same every day. Green. What are the odds?

            The problem was the other Thomas was effeminate. He was effeminate in everything he did, walking, running, eating, etc. Of course to guys this meant that he was a queer. They were merciless to him. There were times that I would get caught with their teasing. I would shut them down with, “Hey! It’s the other Thomas!”

            One day I had been sent back to the barracks for something. I don’t even remember for what but since I had a little time I went to where my foot locker was. The other Thomas’ bunk was not far from mine. He was sitting there hugging himself. Kind of rocking back and forth. His face was tight and pale. He was grimacing. He had gone to sick call that morning. So, I stopped to talk with him and see how he was doing.

            Looking down I realized that he was barefoot and his toes were wrapped in bloody gauze. (He had been limping prior to that day.) I asked him what in the world had happened. He proceeded to tell me. Both of his big toes had bad ingrown toenails. They cut them out. Not at the hospital, at the medic’s office. No anesthetic. Cut and rip. They shoved some kind of heavy duty doctor snips underneath his nails and cut. He showed them to me. I could have thrown up. He said that he passed out. No kidding. They wrapped him up and sent him back to the barracks with some APCs. (Aspirin.)

            Having been to the same aid office I knew what he had run up against. Both of my legs had swollen up from the hips down. They thought that it was funny. The medic wrote some snarky stuff in my permanent record, gave some ace bandages to wrap my legs with and sent me back.

            Oh my god! I sat down with him. I realized that this guy had some sand. He told me his story. He knew why guys made fun of him. Turns out that his dad had died while he was an infant. His mom never remarried. He had 4 older sisters. He just had picked up their mannerisms. He was working on changing his body language, but it was hard.

            The other Thomas was in a lot of pain during training the next few weeks of basic but he stuck it out. I spread his story around and he got some cred for his toughness. Guys backed off him for the most part. There were some that never did. That’s the way it was and is for some people. I didn’t know whether he was queer or not. It didn’t matter to me even then one way or the other. I do to this day regret saying, “Hey! It’s the other Thomas!”

            I did receive some payback when I was stationed in Korea and was the barracks sergeant even though I was technically a Specialist 5^th Class (SP5). I became “the other Thomas.”

            When I was in Korea I didn’t cheat on my wife. The majority of the married men that I served with did. I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I just didn’t do it. Guys tend to notice stuff like that. Especially since I didn’t bother going out into the village and had never been seen at any of the local…houses. When I went to the Enlisted Men’s club located on base I didn’t bother the…entertainers and after word got around that I wasn’t interested they didn’t bother me. They were good people.

            Quite a few of the married guys took my celibacy personally. At times they would go out and get drunk, return from a…date and want to fight me while providing me the appropriate logic for their actions. I would guide them to their bunk and let them sleep it off. They were usually remorseful in the morning. Alcohol made them say things you know. It bears mentioning that there were some single guys that I knew that also didn’t…date.

            One married guy in my section decided that I must actually be gay to explain my not using the business women. So he started spreading that defense around for his actions. He aggravated me. He got under my skin and he knew it. Let’s call him Mr. Pious.

            There were quite a few men in the barracks one day sitting around and shooting the breeze. Mr. Pious was sitting on a foot locker in the middle being very entertaining. So I walked into the middle, bent down, grabbed his face in my hands and gave him a great big kiss right on the lips. It was an eyes wide open kiss. No tongue. I wasn’t happy. After I stood up I stayed there for a minute to see if he was going to do anything. He didn’t. That ended the rumors for some odd reason. Perhaps they didn’t want Sergeant Thomas kissing on them. IDK.

            I often think that people respond in fear, fear that they might be something that they believe they are, aren’t or don’t understand. Fear of those that are different. They can’t be wrong since they’re justified in what they’re doing so the other, whatever that other is, must be wrong.

Fear the book [REVIEW]

        * President Trump should be a little more cautious about calling the book “Fear” a “total fraud” because Woodward vindicates the President in some instances as well as puts him in a favorable light in others. Twitter President Trump is the real Trump. That’s what makes the dialogue and book so believable. People in the President’s circle are as we have seen them in real life. Woodward does an excellent job of presenting their narrative. The President’s own book “Trump, the Art of the Deal” also serves to validate the portrayal in Woodard’s book.

        *When I first started reading “Fear,Trump in the White House” I thought oh boy this is going to be a slog of a read. While I don’t consider it a “page turner” it is a good read. I could put it down, come back to it and become immediately engrossed. There’s drama in the writing but it’s provided by those who Woodward is quoting that were there at the time. If you have watched President Trump talk, read his tweets or watched video of his rallies, you should find that what you are reading is an echo of that. Woodward does an excellent job of filling us in as about the reality of Trump’s Presidency.

        *Bob Woodward starts off providing a behind the scenes look at how the Donald Trump campaign won the election. If Trump supporters would read this with an open mind I think that they might acknowledge that Woodward presents how Trump won in a favorable light. Steve Bannon was almost singular in his unwavering belief that Trump would win. Woodward does a good job of presenting the gritty side of a campaign. The side where people talk like real people and make those not so pretty decisions and have coarse conversations.

        *I’m going to quote a line from the back of the book that for me kind of sums up an oft-repeated theme throughout the book. “I wish I could persuade you,” Dowd said. “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jump suit. If it’s decision time, you’re going to go forward, I can’t be with you.” Dowd is the President’s friend and was his lawyer up until the point that he resigned.

        *Woodward provides a LOT of sources. Pages 362 to 420 are source notes.

        *I want to note that I am curious about all of the half inch spaces between paragraphs that are scattered throughout the book. I’m not going to bother counting them all but I’m going to guess that they add up to a number of pages.

        *In closing I think that if you enjoy reading about history in the making you’ll find this book useful.

True to the word [RELIGION]

    

        What do I think about Queers in regard to the Christian faith? I want to establish here in the beginning that I’m not going to use the alphabet designation. Queers keep adding groups. And that means more letters and/or symbols. It’s starting to remind me of the name of Mr. Mxyzptlk in the Superman comics. No vowels there either. I can’t keep up. We haven’t even got into sub categories. I’m an oldster. I come from a simpler time. Now I have to ask my wife what in the world we’re talking about when a new gender comes up. She’s very patient. She explains. I’m just reverting back to using the word Queer.

        I consider myself fortunate that I’m not a pastor. I’m not a theologian. Don’t know Greek except for really liking those sandwiches that aren’t pronounced like they’re spelled. I have read the bible. I have several. When I see the scholars talking or writing about the bible it sounds to me like they’re just making up words. Then I look up the word and sure enough it means something. I don’t know all of God’s different names. It’s just easier to stick with God. Let’s just avoid getting into the trinity. This should be enough to establish that I’m not any kind of expert. I’m willing to sign papers.

        So I just read what those people-that-are-all-the-things-that-I’m-not have to say on the subject of the bible. Here’s a little of what I’ve learned. They can’t agree on stuff either. They load up their scripture canons and fire it at the other side. The other side loads up their canons with context and fires back. There’s a lot of contextualizing skirmishes going on at any given time. Except for when we get to the earth being flat and a big dome being over us that holds back the water. That’s kind of a downer. But there you are.

        As long as the sides are just haranguing each other it really isn’t a problem. Well, except for when real world consequences start happening. How about a nice Spanish Inquisition? Or the Protestant Catholic wars? People of color not being allowed? Divorcees being second class Christians? Women not having a place in the church other than a pew seat and fixin’ food? Or women being subservient?

        One thing I can tell you for sure is that if I had known then what I know now I would have asked for a pre-save agreement when I accepted Jesus and was held under the water. One thing for sure is that I would have had it down on paper how long I could have been held under. There would have been language in there that I wouldn’t do anything hurtful or stupid to people should something come up that was open to interpretation. My right to exercise my free will; to come and go as I please would have been guaranteed. GUAR - AN - TEED! I would have used someone like Sheldon Cooper to work out the details. It would have been ironclad.

        I can remember some of my first conversational questions with the pastor of the Southern Baptist church that we belonged to at that time. I asked the good reverend what if a man living in a faraway country that never read a bible or had access to knowledge about Jesus but he was a good man and lived a good life when he died would he go to heaven? He answered “no.” he explained that was why missionary work was so important. My first thought at his answer? Well, that’s bullshit*.

        Queers can’t get married in the church. Queers can’t be pastors. Queers are an abomination. Queers are second class Christians. “Love the sinner. Hate the sin.” Bullshit! That is one awesome load of bullshit! That is bullshit to infinity! Yes that’s right, we’re talking bullshit to infinity and beyond here.

        Wow! It only took me seven paragraphs to get to what I’m talking about. If I remember correctly this is supposed to be done in the first paragraph. Hey, like I said. I’m not a scholar but I do know bullshit when I see or hear it. So do unbelievers.

        Look, we already sound crazy enough with that whole bible story about the virgin birth without dragging in all this other stuff. What stuff? This ‘love the sinner, hate the sin stuff.’ It really doesn’t make any difference if those of the faith are name calling each other. It does matter if those not of the faith are using words like intolerance, bigotry, racist, homophobic, etc. Especially if they’re right.

        I have been perusing religious, news and social media sites. The sanctimonious comments are awe-inspiring, especially when combined with self-righteous back patting. Thank you for being piously “true to the word!”

        I think everyone should have the opportunity to be singled out and have a sermon based upon Romans 1 directed at them. Doesn’t really start off all that bad but the dude starts getting worked up around verse 18 and ends a long list of accusations with saying the person being talked about is worthy of death. I was that person. I wasn’t even Queer. Well, as it turns out I was, according to the good reverend.

        After serving in the Army for four years I had let my hair grow out after I was discharged in 1970. This was back in the day when I had hair. Since my faith in God had served me well by helping me through some difficult times in the Army I decided to get back in touch with my roots. Though I was saved in a Southern Baptist church there was a regular Baptist church just down the street. It was the one that my first wife and I had gotten married at. I went alone. I am glad that I went alone.

        Unsurprisingly, I was the only long-haired hippie there. Also, I was dressed waaay too casually. The pastor gave a sermon from Romans 1. He talked about long-haired freaks in general before getting to the bible verses and then just scattered verses like confetti throughout his attack. The congregation ate it up. Ate. It. Up. I didn’t get really uncomfortable until I realized that he really was directing his comments at me and really was pointing and gesturing at me. Just briefly I thought that I was being a tad paranoid until I realized that the congregation was staring at me as well and I was at the back of the church. I thought about leaving but thought instead noooooo, I’ll just stick it out. I didn’t think they would really go so far as to kill me on a sunny Sunday morning. After the service I did walk out. Kind of glad that I sat at the back. That would have been a much longer walk if I had been at the front. No one thanked me for coming. No one talked with me at all. I do remember thinking that the time would come that the church would need long-haired hippie people in their congregation. That church is barely hanging on now.

        I left church for 40 years. And I am of the faith.

        Just what a faith in decline needed! More negative publicity! What will come of this?

        Well, for one thing there’s going to be a lot of collateral damage. These kinds of actions don’t affect just the UMC. The number of people actively engaged in Christianity will continue to decline across the various sects. Clergy will have their lives destroyed. Families will feel betrayed. Thousands of churches across the nation will be fractured, some hopelessly. The UMC is going to have more empty buildings to put on the market. Smaller congregations will go away. Individual UMC members are already leaving their church. Emphasis on ‘their.’

        People need to understand that whether its churches or the government the hardline conservative elements are perfectly willing to see it all burned to the ground as long as they stay TRUE TO their interpretation of what THE WORD means. They have the headlines. They have the bully pulpit. Their way or the highway. The conservative elements of the UMC will only increase in power as progressives leave. The UMC will continue to encourage hating Queers in Africa. It’s gaining them power and strength not only there but here as well. Religion used as a force multiplier for intolerance.

        The multitude of good works being done by churches every day will continue to go unnoticed and be unknown to the general population. Church people will continue to minister to the poor, sick, needy, immigrants, and those needing love in general.

        But what do the people not of the Christian faith that are sitting out there taking all this in think? What do Queers, their family, friends or just general non-believing public think? Are they thinking “oh yeah, I want to get me some of that! I really want to see what people that call me an abomination have to offer me!” Obviously bigots that don’t like Queers in the first place will be drawn to the message. There isn’t any way to measure what the population thinks other than what they do with their feet. They will continue walking away from organized religion.

        What do the rest of us do?

        Move to the front of the bus.

*I really like that word. I don’t use it much. A few years back I kind of gave up cussing because I liked it so much. Let’s just say I finally reached the conclusion that it was off putting. This is probably why I like Pastrix Nadia Bolz Weber so much.

        I have written a number of other articles about homosexuality and the church including “TheTwo Great Commandments” at my Blog. I posted one titled “TheChurch of Just Us” at “Happy to be a Presbyterian” on facebook. That essay was based upon "The Truth of our hearts" where I wrote about what the UMC was doing to Pastor Frank Schaefer. I’ve written several others on different topics like “Losing Jesus”, “Did Jesus brush his teeth”and "Finding Jesus in Charlottesville" to mention a few. These links are provided so anyone that wants to know a little more about me can.