When the law decides you no longer exist, freedom isn’t about where you live.
It’s about how far you’re willing to lose yourself to survive.
2–3 minutes
Getting Marked – Freedom at a cost
What if you belonged to a group that the government suddenly decided was a problem?
Not because of anything you did. Not because of a crime. Not even because of your beliefs. You were placed quietly and without your knowledge. The current leaders decided that the category was “unjust.”
Illegal.
It didn’t matter that you’d lived here your whole life. That your parents and grandparents had, too. It didn’t matter your race, your sex, your creed, your record. None of that mattered anymore. The only thing that mattered was that you had been identified.
The rules you thought protected you suddenly didn’t apply.
Your home wasn’t yours. Your job will vanish with a keystroke. The bank will empty your account without notice. You weren’t even a “person” anymore, not in the legal sense described by the Constitution you once believed in.
It happened so fast you couldn’t trace the moment when it began. At first, it was a news story about “reforms.” Then, “temporary measures.” Then, new identification cards, “to streamline services.” People told themselves it was nothing — until the cards became color-coded. Until the colors meant everything.
Now the world feels smaller every day. Friends stop calling, not because they don’t care, but because they’re afraid to be seen caring. Even strangers look at you differently, as if they’re silently choosing whether to turn away or turn you in.
You start making plans. Options. But they’re illusions. Leave the country? Borders are closed to you. Fight back? With what? Every avenue seems to end at the same locked door.
Then one night, in the quiet of your apartment, you find a letter slipped under your door. No name. No return location. Just a single sentence:
“There’s a way out, but you can’t take anything with you.”
Your heart pounds. Hope flares in your chest — real, breathing hope for the first time in months. You imagine stepping across a border, leaving all this behind, starting over somewhere no one knows your name.
But then the weight comes crashing back. You can’t take anything with you. Not your family, if they’re marked. Not your home. Not even the history that made you who you are.
The choice is yours. Stay and lose everything slowly, or leave and lose it all at once.
It’s hope. And it’s despair.
And tonight, both feel exactly the same.
Will you let this country get to this point? Is the United States already there? Is it too late to turn around?
We are glad you found benandsteve.com —- this post brings you to a site where you can learn more about different individuals born into this world trying to find normalcy. I often call it “Being Straight In A Gay World!” For so many, they are forced not to live their true selves. And lies are sometimes fatal.
For hoots and to offer you relief from the hard-hitting info and news, we sometimes find pieces to keep a chuckle in the heart from deep inside the benandsteve.com files.
Live on!
Benjamin
You know why I am Gay? Because God Made Me That Way, or That’s The Way The Genes Flow. And It’s NObody’s Damn Business But Mind. You HEAR!
SCOOBY DOO! Looks Like Someone Is Going To Get A Scooby Snack!
About Gays And Why Laws, Book Bans, School Boards, And Other Restrictions Attempting To Bash And Attempted Genocide Against Queer Peoples Won’t Stop More People From Increasing The Populations In The LGBTQI Community!
We all remember that day. It may be a Spring afternoon following a light rain shower, with flowers peaking from beneath their winter hiding place for a first glimpse of the season’s sun. There we sit. We were pondering between the two choices. Will we be straight or gay? Surely everyone remembers that day, for if it is a choice, everyone faces the same options. You can choose both, they say. That needs to be clarified.
To be or not to be, when we were teens, first discovering who we were, for some, it was challenging to accept, and it took years for those who grew up in communities that were closed-minded and set to one way of life to finally get into their head that they were who they are and not who others expected them to be. They had tried to take the path of least resistance and attempted to take the straight route, not given another choice. But every piece of their biological body screamed at them, telling them something wasn’t right. They were misleading others, lying every minute of their life, and never being their true selves. They either had to leave and be their authentic self or die. Some tried to marry, but after a period, the inner madness kept them from carrying on, and their either killed themselves, came out and took the hell and damnation from the small communities in which they lived, or packed up and disappeared. Many may have turned to alcohol or drugs, appearing to believe it was better to be an addict than what they felt was their true self. If they were lucky, they met their soul mate and were rescued from the prison that so many are forced into by a society that is cruel and judgmental of others. Fortunately for others, they meet their lifemates just out of high school. They seem to know how to manage the world around them and find a world to live and operate in a life they would have otherwise missed out on, creating long-term relationships and being grateful things turned out as they do. They would not have wished to miss on so much love and so many adventures.
Forty-one years later, another couple still see simple rights afforded to their neighbors, rights that are threatened to be stripped from them by bigoted and power-hungry maga-republicans. So a question is asked to these groups suggesting they can kill off the gays. When did they choose to be straight? And, why is allowing this couple to live in peace so bad?
All the books, movies, and internet sites in the world may get banned; however, that will not stop the same amount of new homosexual and bisexual men and women from populating the earth each year. Some evil act does not make them. They are born, just like the couple you are reading about.Just like you!
One couple originates from small towns in Western Oklahoma. Growing up, they were never acquainted with gay anything. Both were church-attending, straight-laced lads all the way. Still, each began slowly dying from living in a suppressive community that had conditioned them to believe they were the worst people on the earth and were going to Hell. That worked until they met after high school and finally began to breathe life through one another. It took a lifetime to overcome the damage God-fearing sermons placed on them. They chose to move to a larger city and begin to grow privately, not making themselves the center attraction of life, but their community knew they coupled. As life continued, so did their love and energy, and now they live in a retirement community. But their rights are under threat daily. Because their property, retirement, and physical and fiscal security are in danger by daily threats of changing laws and bigotry. Research has discovered there should be signs on every front door of any religious establishment reading “for entertainment purposes only, because it does not produce a benefit for the community as a whole, just for the few!”
So When Did You Choose Your Sexual Preference?
And To Screw With It Would Cause Extinction!
This passionate talk from Dr. James O’Keefe, MD, gives us a deeply personal and fascinating insight into why homosexuality is a necessary and instrumental cog in nature’s perfection.
Research shows those making up the LGBTQI Communities are responsible for keeping the human race alive.
So When Did You Decide? When Did You Make Your Decision On Who To Be?
LGBTQI? It Is Natures Response To Maintaining The Magic Balance In Life – And To Screw With It Would Cause Extinction.
Maintaining The Magic Balance In Life
For those desiring more proof that the existence of gays is “born” to history and that the members of the LGBTQI Community do not simply choose to be Gay, this history lesson may help if you are an individual with a mind with enough room to learn new and factual information.
Another way to arrive at the understanding of whether LGBTQI members are born or are made of people choosing a lifestyle, ask yourself when you decided to be heterosexual (straight). What day did you choose between the options available and determine what life you wanted? Then consider who would ever pick a life where their being would face prejudices, denial of employment, housing, and services if they had a choice not to have to face the constant bigotry bashing them daily.
If you believe in a Higher Authority, a God. If this is your premise and you still object to these beings walking the earth, take it up with Him. When you do, if you believe scripture, consider Genesis 1:26-28, which announces that human beings are unique and all are in the image of God.
§Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the cattle and over all the earth. Genesis 1:26-28
IF HE IS TRUE. AND THERE IS AN ALMIGHTY. AND HE DID SOMETHING WRONG IN DESIGNING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS TO BE DIFFERENT. THEN YOU SHOULD TELL HIM HE IS WRONG!
Viewing the windows to the right will allow the Facebook Posting to open so the original content can be read.
Remember It…The Day You Decided!
This Is Not A Paid Advertisement
If you are God Fearing, then this message is for you!–Our supposed sins will not send you to Hell. But God will ask about yours, i.e., judging others, planting seeds of strife. So the sins you commit are the only ones you should be concerned with. We are fine in answering to the top, should there be anything to comment on. You take care of your side of the street. We will tend to ours!
It’s the hottest place in town regarding most business models in the industry. “Everyone is dying to do business with the local funeral directors and cemeteries,” one potential client said!
People Checking Out And The Funeral Industry – how funeral homes are making killing off people dying!
PRIVATE, ON-DEMAND GRIEF VIDEO LIBRARY TO PROVIDE IMMEDIATE HELP
Everyone’s grief journey is different. Guiding Grief™ was created to offer perspectives from those who have experienced all types of grief. While this private resource library can never replace therapy or a support group, these 27 videos were created to give those faced with loss an overview of what they may experience, how normal that is, and how to avoid common mistakes in caring for themselves and making decisions while grieving. Guiding Grief™ is the perfect gift. What better way to begin healing than to learn what helped others?
Find the information you need to have all your concerns met.
benandsteve.com and Groff’sHomeOutWest Blog and or Galaxy8News, are not associated with Guiding Grief™ its related pages, owners, or associates. The link to its information intent is to allow an information resource referral only. The reference is not an endorsement but a suggested source to include in establishing facts you need to make important decisions regarding final arrangements for you or a loved one.
A Note From Benjamin
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