In celebration of Pride month here is my contribution. As you read this keep in mind that the fight isn't over, there is still hatred out there, and way to many judging glances. There are also some people who have been left behind; I'm referring to...
TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter talks about some of the hate and the violent attack that the lead characters had to go through. This chapter does include school violence and gun violence. This is the only time in this story it will be mentioned because this is not the theme of the story, just part of its backstory.
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"I stand here, curious about the reasons why some decide the path of my life that don't even know me. Curious why they get to decide who gets the freedom to love and who does not. Some people say that I don't understand, some argue that I am uncivilized and perverse, some might even just say I'm a clueless idiot." She glanced at students who giggled "They might all be true but the point still remains, why do they get to tell me how I love is wrong?" Looking over the podium Fortis saw the crowd groan and shift to talking amongst themselves rather than listening to her.
"The feeling of oppression can be suffocating. Many have felt it in the history of the world and if humankind doesn't get its proverbial head out of its ass many more will feel it before we obliterate ourselves due to our own ignorance." Now she had their attention again. "The adults seem to think we don't know anything when it comes to love. They mock us with terms of puppy love and phrases like just wait till you're older" The crowd laughed. "Yes, divorce rates have dropped recently but marriage rates in America have also dropped by sixty percent, last I checked." She took a calming breath "Pair that with the fact that Polyamorous couples in America have increased to eleven percent and now one in nine Americans describe themselves as Poly you realize things are changing, but the oppression is tightening."
The crowd was now locked onto her "Look around you and tell me exactly how many of you would have faced this same type of oppression not more than thirty years ago. Tell me what makes you better than me, tell me what makes you more deserving of loving the way you choose than the large percentage of American who have decided to just not get married because why bother when the world around them won't accept their love for what it is. You all spout the Love is Love mantra but you admit freely that it doesn't apply to Poly because you don't think it does. Are you any better than the people who tell you that your idea of love isn't love?"
The crowd nervously looked down at their feet and the teachers looked to the principle, hoping he would stop this madness. Fortis glanced to the side of the stage and saw her boyfriends leaning against the stage wall watching her. Both had smiles on their faces, both were watching her with pride. Orson St. James was a tall dark and dreamy expert on all the languages and cultures of the world. His parents were both successful, his father a businessman who just started a new job with a salary triple his old one and his mother a high-powered lawyer. They were wealthy, powerful, compassionate and traveled often. Since she started dating him he has taken her and her second boyfriend along with him on all the family vacations. The second boyfriend being Torin Clayton, the son of a blue-collar family on a single income. His dad stays home, and his mom works as a CEO at a locally based publishing company. He was a cross between an athlete and a nerd. A set of unique skills that had granted him dozens of college offers already and they were only sophomores. Orson and Torin weren't friends until they met her, Fortis Fidelis Fisher. Her father a yogi instructor at a school he owned, her mother a psychiatrist and meditation expert. Both thought that Fortis Fidelis Fisher was a perfect name for a child. Fortis Fidelis, Latin words that together mean brave and faithful, strong and loyal.
