Speeches

Today, I did something I've been dreading for a while. I went to a church to speak to people about how Homosexuality is okay.

This all started when I was asked to do a talk at a local school. It could be about anything, they were just using us to show exemplary public speaking skills (see, I can be a real person!) I chose to do my presentation on homosexuality. Apparently, one of the people who runs the church heard my speech and thought I made a compelling argument, and so asked me to come and do a similar speech at the church.

So, that's how I wound up in the local catholic church trying to tell them about how awesome being gay is (even though I'm not). Honestly, I walked into the church and I would have liked to sink into the ground. I was getting these dark looks from people who clearly thought I shouldn't be there. I resisted the urge to run into the bathroom and hyperventilate.

Eventually, I finished my 10 minute speech (which seemed like it took hours). There were a lot more people smiling at this point. I got down off the podium and started to hyperventilate again. It was time for the Meet and Greet/Q&A (which I felt severely under prepared for, since I only had the statistics. I had no actually idea what it was like to be gay). Everything there went better than expected. I had people come up to me telling me how wonderful my speech was, asking me questions about why gay marriage should be allowed, and quoting their favourite lines to me. I didn't have anyone tell me I was wrong.

I assume that only open minded people were there, but it was a church exclusive event, so everyone there was a member of that church, and we ended up with a full house, including standing room at the back.

That was this morning, and since then I've had 4 or 5 calls from people who heard about my speech and want me to come to their church! Some are a bit far away from me to do at the moment, but I do have time off work in Jan, so perhaps an Australia-wide tour is in order (I'm not exaggerating. I did have a call from a church in perth).

Perhaps I need the straight persons equivalent of a beard. A gay person to join me in my adventure. Any takers?