Pitting conservative Christians (followup to "How can I stay safe as a nonbinary person...")

The BBQ Pit
1

This is a follow-up to this thread I made the other day, where I was scared about me and my friends’ safety: How can I stay safe as a nonbinary person, now that Trump has won(?)? Just to be clear, I know I’m not exactly “original” in what I’m about to say, and perhaps some things I say are “edgy teen-esque”, but these are just my pure thoughts and emotions being spilt out. I hope you understand.

==Start Backstory==
I have QUITE a history with these kinds of people. My whooooole life I’ve had to deal with them. Every day of my life, I’ve been around them. Went to church every Sunday, went to a religious private school associated with the church, the whole nine yards. For a while…it was fine. I saw no problems with the system because it was all I knew. And I did have one especially good teacher in like…first grade? But whatever. Back to the bullshit.

Around middle school was when the cracks were starting to show (I went to the same exact school up until the end of middle school, mind you, and was within the same synod until graduation from high). I got suspended twice for things that would at most get me after-school detention (other kids often got away with worse), and during a debate class, when I asked exactly WHY homosexuality was considered a sin, all I was given was “because God said so”. I need you to understand that this means absolutely fucking nothing to me. So I said that wasn’t enough, and they shunned me for questioning the “written Word of God”. This soured me quite a bit, but I brushed it off initially and just hung my head in shame.

Then comes high school. Now, the general education in and of itself (i.e. subjects outside of pure religion) was okay actually. The teachers were nice enough and helped me if needed and all that. But what tipped me over the edge was the vitriol and hatred for LGBTQ+ people and “liberals” during daily sermons (yes we had those at my high school). It wasn’t EVERY day or anything, but when it happened, it STUNG and soured my mood for the rest of the day. And with every teenage boy, they were always laughing at some “offensive meme” or what have you making fun of X minority.

It got at its worst during my senior year. I lost a trans person in my life due to her cutting herself, and I never saw her again. Did the hatred around me stop? HAHAHAHA NOPE =). Every fucking day felt like hell. And every Friday in my religion class there was a time for debate and discussion, which, hey, to be fair is a fine effort. The problem was there was this Confederate alt-right type guy in my class. I’ll call him N. N was a fucking twat; he would constantly bring up trans people and their “issues”, and for some reason my teacher always humoured him. I wanted nothing more than to lunge from my desk and beat N’s stupid fucking head into the wall (he also believed the Earth was flat and unironically did a presentation about it in front of another class of his, but I find that more pathetic than anything).

To cope with it, I would just download video game playthroughs onto my computer and plug my ears as discreetly as I could. Needless to say, it was not fun, and getting out of that fucking school felt like unchaining a giant ball from my ankle.
==End Backstory==

BUT I CAN’T SEEM TO ESCAPE THESE STUPID CRACKERS CAN I??? I NEVER CAN. WHY WOULD I. IT WOULD JUST BE TOOOOOO EASY.

I ALWAYS HAVE TO FIGHT. I ALWAYS HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM. EVERY DAY. EVERY FUCKING DAY. THESE NO LIFE NO SOUL NO EMPATHY VIRGIN PIECES OF SCUM RUN OUR FUCKING COUNTRY IN ITS ENTIRETY.

IT’S ALWAYS THE “DEVIL’S WORK” RIGHT?? IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT, IT’S THE DEVIL’S WORK. IT’S SATAN. YOU’RE TOO FUCKING SCARED TO ACCEPT THAT MAYBE YOU’RE FUCKING STUPID AND UNEDUCATED, SO INSTEAD YOU MAKE SHIT UP, TARNISH THE ACTUAL WORD OF GOD WITH YOUR HATEFUL VITRIOL, THEN ACT LIKE WE’RE THE BAD GUYS.

AND THE WORST PART?? EVERY STUPID CHURCH-GOING 1950S NUCLEAR FAMILY FUCKING BELIEVES THAT SHIT. BECAUSE IF IT’S IN THE HOLY BOOK, IT’S TRUE RIGHT??

GOD I WANT TO SAY THE R WORD SO FUCKING BAD RIGHT NOW. IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO DESCRIBE THESE PEOPLE. THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE. BUT I DON’T WANT TO HURT ANYONE ELSE HERE IN THE PROCESS EITHER, SO I WON’T.

I HAVE BEEN AROUND THESE PEOPLE ALL MY LIFE. THEY’RE ALL NOTHING BUT BACKWARDS COWARDLY CRACKERS WHO WANT TO PROP THEMSELVES UP AS HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS. BECAUSE HAVING A GOD MEANS YOU AUTOMATICALLY GET TO HEAVEN RIGHT?? YOU DON’T NEED TO TRY, JUST MAKE YOURSELF LOOK BETTER AND SHUN EVERYONE ELSE FOR EXISTING.

DO YOU REALLY THINK I’M SCARED OF THESE CRACKERS ANYMORE??

FUCK NO.

THEY SHOULD BE SCARED OF ME.

I AM MORE THAN FUCKING WILLING TO FIGHT.

NOT JUST WITH MY WORDS.

BUT WITH THE SHEER FUCKING ANGER AND ADRENALINE I’VE PILED UP FROM THESE PEOPLE FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS.

I’M DONE “TOLERATING” IT.

I’M DONE “TUNING IT OUT”.

I’M DONE HAVING TO BE AROUND THESE PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE MY MOM IS FRIENDS WITH THEM.

YOU WANT MERCY? UNDERSTANDING? SHOULD HAVE GIVEN THAT TO US BEFORE WANTING IT YOURSELF.

2

You can say “Republican.” No one here will mind. (I’m not trying to mock or disparage your feelings here, just a tiny drop of levity. Sorry that you’re having to endure this shitstorm, and I wish I could do more to help).

3

Hang in there. Regardless of what’s going on at the national, political level, it does get better once you put some distance between yourself and your community of origin. I gather from the other thread that you’re in college … community college or four-year school? Are you living on campus? Living at home and commuting? If the latter, is renting an apartment with like-minded roommates an option?

Also, apologies if this is something you’ve already looked into, but if you’re financially dependent on your parents and you haven’t done this already, consider contacting your school’s financial aid office to see if there are any opportunities you might not know about. Oftentines, there are scholarships that go unclaimed because people don’t apply for them, or summer research / internship opportunities that come with a stipend (and allow you to be somewhere other than at home during the summer), and every little bit helps.

4

As someone who attended an “at risk” inner city public school, nothing sounds more like someone playing the world’s tinniest violin than when private kids talk about how rough they had it.

We had kids storing semi-automatics in theor wall lockers at my school. I had no less than 5 childhood friends who were killed in shootings before they ever had the chance to graduate. A couple of years after I graduated my state shut down my school and fired the entire staff because few students could pass the state’s high school proficency exam to graduate. Some girl I knew got physically dragged off school campus, raped in a school alley, and had her body cut up with razor blades.

I know private school kids had their challenges too and I don’t mean to sound insulting, but public and private schools are totally different worlds.

6

That wasn’t even implied in their post. Care to address the real issues raised?

8

Who are the “Crackers”?

9

Storing semiautomatics in the school lockers?
I think you may have gone a bit too far playing the “Well, I walked up hill both ways to school!” Game.

10

I grew up in the Houston and Atlanta school systems during the height of the 80s-90s crack war epidemic. Trust we had students storing semi autos in lockers

11

Honestly I’m not sure what would motivate anyone to type out “you’re probably imagining guns in schools, I don’t think that really happened.” I wonder if the term “semiauto” is confusing to people who don’t understand that these are very common handguns, Glocks and the like.

Most any school you can think of in the 90’s had at least 1 handgun in at least 1 locker, certainly it was true in my school (Atlanta metro). Or at least I heard more than one student say it, and I’m aware of at least 1 shooting because of a student-stored handgun, and the lax enforcement did not exactly give a sense that the administration was on top of it in any sense.

12

This is why they have metal detectors in even the smallest school districts.

13

It’s not a competition.

There is always somebody somewhere who has it worse. There are people who had it worse than you; that doesn’t make it fine where you were, and what you went through does not diminish what the OP has had to deal with.

They didn’t use to.

@CorpusNeptune: Anger is a very useful emotion – if it’s aimed right. Use yours. But be careful how you aim it; used wrong, all it does is create further damage, including to that it was wielded on behalf of.

14

You’re right, it’s not a competition and I didn’t mean to sound insulting. Others did have it worse, but there’s also a reason why parents are willing to thriw down 30-50k a year so their kids don’t have to attend schools with the likes of me…

15

Not every. We’ve help my sons’ friends who have been in similar situations. If you are in college (and it’s not some asshat place like Liberty U), go to your student services. This is why they’re there. If you are stuck at some conservative “Christian” school, look to transfer out as soon as possible.

Floridian gauchos, originally. Now, it seems to be a catchall for rednecks.

16

My son had been a christian since age 5. We went to churches.
I like the kind with upbeat music.
Those seem to be the ones who say homosexuality is a sin.
My son and I knew they were wrong, but theres no point trying to convince them.

17

When I was in school they had them. I’m pretty sure the OP is younger than me.

Before I was in school, boys had to turn out pockets, get patted down. They looked in girls bags. They can’t do that anymore.

Since switch-blade days they’ve look for weapons on students.

Metal detectors are just better at that.

“They didn’t used to” come-on. There didn’t used to be a bunch of things. But it’s today. Not those much more better olden days of yore.
Can’t go back.

The best thing this young person can do is forget the recent past. Highschool days don’t define you. Move on.

18

This really didn’t start happening until the 90’s and wasn’t widespread for another 10 years.

If you’re saying “we now have metal detectors because kids brought guns to school”, that’s correct.

If you’re saying kids couldn’t have had guns in lockers in the 80’s because of metal detectors, I assure you that’s not the case, because those devices weren’t widespread in the 80’s.

If you’re saying there were daily weapons patdowns upon arrival to school in the 80’s and before, honestly I’m not sure what kind of school you went to. Maybe there were high risk schools where that happened, but I remember when all these security measures were introduced after Columbine, and it was a big deal because of the invasion of privacy.

All of this happened in response to the crack panic of the late 80’s/early 90’s, followed by the Columbine shooting.

19

Never said kids didn’t have guns in lockers in the eighties.

At my school,
Every boy that drove a truck had a shotgun in his truck back glass. Every boy, probably some girls had a pocket knife and a zippo lighter on their person. All these were confiscated.
The principal displayed a huge box of them in his office(not that I ever went in there, :wink:)
It wasn’t a particularly dangerous school. But they had just consolidated the whole county into one highschool. There were tensions. Former football rivals had to relinquish that identity. The school was renamed. Colors were changed.
I didn’t give a crap. But the community was bothered.

I don’t think any guns were confiscated while I was there. Or my kids were there. I’m sure that’s changed.

We live in a dangerous new world. I’m happy to know the kids and adults walk through that metal detector everyday.
And there’s no more shotguns in the parking lot.

20

The post I thought you were referring to was talking about the 1990’s. That’s 30 years ago now.

The person who posted about guns in school in the 90’s was not the OP and is presumably significantly older than the OP.

21

Yeah I’m pretty sure I’m older than OP but this thread isn’t about me, it’s about OP. I wanted OP to know that childhood down right sucks for a lot of people for variety of reasons maybe OP hasn’t considered…

The best thing you can do is move forward using the best meand at your disposal.

22

Understood. I think.

It don’t matter.

It’s a dangerous world for the OP and a significant number of Americans.