Freedom in Speech

Written by Gienah Thursday, 07 June 2012 08:21

All she wanted was to experience life on her own. Growing up as a preacher’s daughter did not make her experience the life her fellow age mates were experiencing. All she ever had to do was to act as the preacher’s kid, well mannered, and follow the Christian way of life. She is only 25, but all her life was forced to live a lie. She was forced to live the life of a person she is not.

Tyler was only 18 when she started discovering her true self. All her life she was living a lie with the fear of what the community around would say if they discovered her true sexual orientation. Forced to live in the closet all her teenage hood, at 25 she finally starts to question herself on the commitment to her strict life. The life that revolves around God, the church, and the life she lived. She always had a dream of becoming a professional singer and through music was how she would come out to her father and the community about her sexual orientation

One-day Tyler’s friend Kicky invited her to come see a Christian play that was touring all over the country. On that day, Tyler shows up on the concert with her friend however, she becomes enamored with the play’s female lead actor Frankie. On the night of the concert, Frankie hears Tyler singing along to one of their play songs and she is blown away with her voice and the words of the love song. It was then that Frankie approached her and that night; Tyler spent the night in Frankie’s hotel room.

Her father spent the whole night worried trying to reach her on her phone to no avail. The next morning, she snacked back home without her father noticing her but her perfume and footsteps, woke him up. He followed her to her room, found her trying to pretend she was asleep. When her father confronted her about it, she decided to leave home to go on a road trip in the play as the female lead’s understudy. Tyler was raised by her dad since her mum passed on and ever since, she has always been daddy’s little girl. That day the bishop (Tyler’s father), tells her that if she walks out the door, she should never return home and Tyler decides to follow where her heart was leading her.

While on the road with the play, Tyler learns many things about the crew. She learns that Frankie the play’s lead singer is a lesbian and the crew does not leave up to the Christian values they express in the plays they perform. However, she felt a little bit secure around Frankie since they understood each other. Frankie seduces her and they started living together in the same hotel room. The play’s director tried warning her about Frankie but Tyler, was in love. This was the only time she felt she belonged. She had someone to talk to about her life, someone to hold and someone who loved her way she deserves.

As days go by, Frankie gets bored with Tyler starts abusing her, but she still stayed. Apart of her wanted, to leave but the other part wanted for her stay. Every time she thought, it was over and done, she made her fall back in love and that got her torn in between the two. This was all because she was on the road to pursue her dream of becoming a singer and Frankie had promised her that she would be getting hera singing contract with a leading producer. This went as far as Frankie picking up other girls just to punish Tyler but she still stayed. On the day of contract signing, Frankie meets up with the music producer and that was when her last lie was finally exposed.

Tyler finds out that Frankie was signing up the contract with another female actor and the producers had no clue whatsoever whom Tyler was. This made her perform for the last time her first single at the play, which she had written about her coming out. Something clicks in her mind that her father might need her way she needs her father now. She decides to go back home, come out to him not knowing how he and everyone else in the community would react about it, and at the same time, ask him for forgiveness.

Throughout her coming out journey, Tyler learns many things. The mistakes we make, some of the paths we take just to get to where our happiness lies made her realize that the only happiness she is looking for lies only at the place she left behind, and God loves a person no matter whom they are.