In article <92356.232915MEH124@psuvm.psu.edu> <MEH124@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>A question for those of you that may have experienced guilt coming to terms
>with your gay/lesbian or bisexual lifestyle and feelings. If you did
>experience guilt was the source more from religious upbringing or from being
>different from mainstream society? Also, and more importantly, is the feeling
>of guilt the same for that brought on by religion versus that from social
>differences (i.e., are there two different kind/feelings of guilt)?
I have a very hard time distinguishing between the junk deposited into my brain
by society from that deposited there by religion. The two were very intertwined
in my early years. (ages 5-10) Now, all the guilt I felt is gone, or at least
enough of it is gone as to make it powerless over me. I just wonder if religionwill ever play a big role in my life again or if the bible's blabberings will
remain just words to me. I would have to say, I guess, that the religious
guilt I felt went to war with my religious beliefs and the two of them nearly
obliterated each other. All the guilt I feel now is from denying my
grandparents the chance to face me as a gay man and not as one of their two
"unmarried older grandchildren." In other words, I feel guilty *now* from
those parts of my life where I remain in the closet, no matter how few.
-Ken McCamish
* -The very idea that my opinions might resemble those of
*** Purdue University frightens me. Please don't even
***** think about it.
endora@sage.cc.purdue.edu -the patron witch of mothers-in-law