My realization

When I moved to Cyprus, I was amazed at the lack of diversity here. Everyone looks exactly the same. The only people who look different are the people who work as housecleaners, nannies, or prostitutes. There are no black people. There are no teenagers walking around with green hair in a mohawk. I don't think I've ever seen someone with a piercing on their face and I've definitely never seen a transgendered person. I haven't even seen anyone who I could honestly says looks "openly gay." Barb and I have learned a new way of life. We don't walk down the street holding hands as we would in DC. We never give each other a small kiss before parting, or dance together at events, such as weddings.

I learned last night that there are no zoos in Cyprus. There are no aquariums or planetariums. There are very few "real" museums. You might be wondering what this has to do with diversity, and maybe the answer is nothing. But it made me realize something. Cypriots are not exposed to very much. They just aren't. They know their island and much of their lives and education revolve around the infamous "Cyprus problem," which most other people in the world know nothing about. Going abroad and going to a zoo is a big deal. (You can count the number of species who live on this island on two hands.) Cypriots don't see lakes and rivers. They don't see big open fields of grass. And they don't see diversity.

In many places that I've been, on the surface, people appear to be open minded and gay friendly. But then you dig deeper and find that they actually have deeper-seeded issues or prejudices. I've found Cyprus to be the opposite. You wouldn't expect people living on this little island to be open-minded. And I wouldn't blame them for being that way. Like I said, they are not exposed to such things on a day to day basis as we are in the U.S.
But I have to say my experience has been different. The straight friends that I have made in Cyprus are the most open-minded, welcoming, accepting people I know. Barb and I completely expected to not be treated equally and we were prepared to deal with that. We made gay friends as soon as we arrived in Cyprus, but I never expected to become good friends with other Cypriots.

My reason for writing this blog in the first place was to tell my Cypriot friends—and you know who you are—how grateful I am to have met you and to thank you from the bottom of my heart for embracing Barb and me in your lives. It may not have been a big deal for you but it really was for us. And even if we haven't told you this, or haven't told you this enough, know that we do talk about it to each other all the time and feel lucky to have gotten to know you deeper than just at surface level!