I have been a long time reader of Little Chief Honeybee for a while and she does this feature called "Honest to Blog". Well, currently I have an issue weighing on me and I thought it might be time I get a little honest myself.
Yesterday I got a text from a girl I have known for a few years telling me that she and her girlfriend had gotten engaged and asked would I do some pictures. I said yes without hesitating. However, when I started really thinking about it, I started to get a little nervous. What was this big internal dilemma you might ask? Facebook.
You see, whenever I do pictures for people I always post their photos on facebook so that they can preview them. This was my first photoshoot for a same sex couple. Not that big of a deal, right? Well, not to me. I am tickled pink for them and thankful that they are happy and that together they can provide a loving home for their daughters. The "big deal" here is that I live smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt and most people I know are very much against homosexual relationships.
That is where I started to get nervous. I had a hundred situations playing out in my head. What if people boycotted my photography business was my first concern. The more I thought about that, the more apparent it became that I was stupid for even toying with that idea. If someone is so offended that me supporting what I believe in makes them not want to do business with me, then I do not want their business anyways! Then I began to feel guilty for even getting nervous about that in the first place. My beliefs are worth more than a check.
My second issue was what if someone says something mean? How do I handle it if someone posts hate on one of their pictures? Well, honestly I do not know how I will react if that happens. I hope people have the decency just to unlike my page. There is a part of me that will want to say something back... and that something will not be very nice or professional. The other part of me says to ignore it. Lashing back at them will not help open their minds or take the hate out of their hearts. The other part of me says to just delete their comment or report it.
It hurts my feelings that I even have to make decisions like this. It hurts me that we live in a world where people are not accepted for who they are.
I guess all I can say is that, yes, I posted the pictures. Am I still worried? A little. Not about losing business... I am worried about hurtful words being hurled at two wonderful people.
Anyways, congratulations to these two beautiful women! It was an honor to capture such a happy time and their daughters were wonderful. I had a ton of fun.
1 comments:
It's awful that you had to feel worried about nasty comments. But you made the right choice posting the photos(and you never know you might get extra business from other gay couples wanting a photo session done!)
Civil Partnership was brought into Ireland last year, thankfully there has been a huge acceptance of it by the general public(a study showed an 80% positive reaction). Because Ireland has a history of being quite conservative people were quite nervous, but it's great to see how accepting everyone has been. My friends Ann and Jenny are getting married next year, I can't wait!
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