![belinda the gay test belinda the gay test](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rei-KN-6GJo/maxresdefault.jpg)
I wasn’t late, I had a high close rate, I was there every day.Īnd that was Portland. I was pulled into the office by a middle-aged straight cis male and told they ‘understood my “lifestyle choices” were difficult, but they couldn’t ‘cater to me anymore’’ and let me go. I was let go that same day when I had the utter GALL to request to not be asked about strap-ons and eating pussy. I asked them to stop ‘joking’ about my sexuality. I told them about what happened, while we smoked cigarettes out back. Just the sheer callousness of everyone there was astounding, and a huge eye-opener.Īnd, I went to work the next day. You want to argue about the moral rightness of my queerness? Then allow me to start the conversation, asshole. Reliving it now, I realize that the origin of stand-up comedy probably started for me right there. To say I felt humiliated, is a vast understatement. I wish I knew who she was, right now, to thank her for that. She rushed into her work to call the cops. This happened before cell phones, and she worked at Carl’s Jr. No one did a thing, except one brave woman. Horrifyingly, ½ the bus applauded and then everyone got into an argument about if it was “ok to be a lesbian, according to the Bible”-they were split down the middle- all while I was being bashed by this dude.
#Belinda the gay test driver
The driver wouldn’t call anyone, even when I ran to him screaming for him to help me.
![belinda the gay test belinda the gay test](https://assets.hotelplan.com/content/HP/00/138/506/hotel/de/lightbox/474663.jpg)
He looked like a dude I’d be friends with. He was wearing blue jeans with blue suede patches, and a black mock turtleneck. I had a dude watch my ex-girlfriend Tammy and I hug goodbye he then proceeded to say ‘you afraid of dick or something?’ while he began hitting and spitting on me. It was the month before Matthew Shepard was killed in Laramie, Wyoming in a vicious hate crime. At 22, I thought this the way I was going to be treated. I came out around 1992 as a young teenager and my brothers, my family, and everyone straight I knew treated me the same way as someone to pity for such a horrid fate as lesbianism, a freak who was choosing to be a weirdo or a pariah to be shunned.
![belinda the gay test belinda the gay test](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q_UoOn4LUW8/maxresdefault.jpg)
This is important to note for people who think, “I wouldn’t ever put up with that.” In a lot of cases, Queer people didn’t and don’t have a choice to be around tolerant, educated people. I went along with it, because he was my management and women were routinely shamed as ‘not being emotionally strong enough for a male environment’.Īll the guys made fun of me constantly, and many of them asked me questions about lesbian sex, my sex, my sex life, what kind of dildo I liked to use, who is the man? Why is someone like me (femme) dating women? I jabbed back. Outing me to everyone in the workplace over and over and over again because he thought it was funny.
#Belinda the gay test tv
Ellen had come out on TV the year before, and I had a co-worker at an unnamed sales job who was a big toxic manly MAN-MAN and he used to bellow “FUCK ELLEN, We Got One Of Our Own!” and laugh and laugh while I stood there, awkwardly forced to go along with the joke. I was fired openly for being gay in 1998. Which, in and of itself, is shameful and a lot later than most people realize. We’ve had workplace protections as a state for LGBTQ people since 2008. Back when same-gender marriage was ruled on by the Supreme Court, the state threw us a party. (We love you Joann!) When abortion bans hit Alabama and Georgia our progressive, smart, and openly bisexual Governor, Kate Brown moves to immediately to pass even stronger protections for people seeking birth-control in Oregon. Our local government is dedicated to diversity and when they are not, newly-elected City Council member Joann Hardesty will make sure that they are. Rah Rah Rah Portland!Īnd, we are lucky to call this place home, even you, transplant from Akron. I’ve written a little note about Dyke March every year for several years and mostly It’s all love and inclusion and rainbows and unicorns.
![belinda the gay test belinda the gay test](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uKDWyeaZTmI/maxresdefault.jpg)
Written by Belinda Carroll-Comedian, Performer, Producer, and long-time Portland queer activist!