Response to an article I read

No I'm not doing this for a school project or anything, I'm doing it cos I enjoy to and I'm a dork like that :P

Last month's issue of Outlooks (the gay magazine) contains an article entitled "The Art of Changing Perceptions". In the article, the author is essentially fearing that gay activism and culture is disolving into the mainstream and he fears it will soon be non-existant. This he says is due to several factors including the fact that society as a whole is becoming alot more tolerant of sexual and gender diversity. He also states that young gay artists these days prefer not to be out, not because of fear, but because they feel that the fact that they're gay really isn't that important. They view themselves as being no different than straight artists.

Wait stop slow down there a second...did he just say that being gay is no different than being straight? Isn't this what queer communties have been fighting for over many generations for many, many years? From the time of the rise of the first gay activist group and the first political statement, isn't that what we've been fighting for? Sure things aren't 100 percent equal for gays and straights alike around the world, but in some parts, they don't even have gender equality.

A little while ago at my school, there was this gay guy and he was being very annoying and rubbing the fact that he was gay, so he deserved "special treatment" right in my face. I quickly got quite impatient with him so I told him to shut up and cool it with the gay stuff. He then proceeded to lecture me on what a homophobe I was and how I should be more "accepting". I just told him listen buddy you have no idea of my background or who I am. I am probably one of the most accepting people you'll meet. Maybe you should take a look at how you are presenting yourself and you'll get better treatment. I flashed him my rainbow keychain and walked away and from what I could tell, he had a pretty dumb look on his face.

It seems that within the gay activist community, there is never peace. Even though we've got it pretty damn good in our time and age, there are people out there fighting for everything to be served for us on a silver platter. I mean c'mon guys, even straights don't have it that good. Why can't we be happy that we've finally gotten what we wanted? I know that queer culture is important and film festival and parades and plays are great fun but to me, they seem no different than a music festival. Just a bunch of people who all have something in common and who all support the cause coming together to have some fun. It doesn't neccisarly mean that the whole message and flamboyancy has to carry on into everyday life. It's just like say Ozzy fans dressing up for Oz-Fest and acting a certain way for the concert because they're very excited. You don't see them dressing and acting that way every day. Same goes with gay pride parades. Afterwards, people go back to their everyday lives and dissolve back into normal functioning members of society. But yet there are people who fight to keep that flambouyancy alive on a day to day basis. In my opinion, I think that's what provokes people to make homophobic remarks. The fact that we're acting so silly and setting ourselves apart from society.

The point I'm trying to make here is this. Now that gays have gained acceptance within the mainstream and are no longer treated differently, I think that we should be happy about it. We should be happy going through life not being seen and treated any differently than our straight neighbours. Special attention is no longer needed because people see us for who we are as people and not our sexual orientation. We're finally getting what we've asked for.