Pasadenacpl2
Jun 27, 2011, 2:32 PM
I'm a fairly upbeat and positive guy. I revel in the fact that I am alive now, in these times. I love my life, even if I'm not as wealthy as I would like. I love video games, and gadgets and the idea that nano technology is happening now.
I also love the progressive social changes in my lifetime. I am a child who was a victim of forced bussing in the 70s. We've certainly come a long way from that, right Mr. President? And we've come a long way in terms of gay rights.
I read some posters, and hear some guys in one of the local gay bars I haunt proclaim bitterly about "straights", "breeders" and other nasty social diseases like conservatives and...*whispers* Christians being the cause of all of their woes.
It truly confuses me. Sure, there is still homo/bi phobia out there. My mother is a prime example of this. But, even though I'll never come out to her, she is not a source of my problems or my worries. She is a product of a different generation and she just wouldn't understand. And that's ok.
But, I look around and think to myself that the amount of struggle the GLBT community has is significantly lessened from what it was. Let's take a look at today's society.
Will And Grace has been in re-runs for nearly 5 years after a 10 year run. And let's face it, that show showed a very wide range of GLBT life and brought it into the forefront of American culture. It brought a certain normalcy.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is still the best thing to ever come from Bravo Network.
Gay/Straight Alliances are flourishing in schools across the nation.
This year's Gay Pride Parade in Houston had record attendance, even considering that we are in the middle of one of the worst heat waves in the past 60 years.
Websites like this one are visible and well populated, and not just by gays or bisexuals.
Gay marriage is legal in 8 states, one of which is now New York, one of the largest states and generally is considered a leader (where New York, California, and Texas go, the nation generally follows). California's Prop 8 will be repealed, and I can see Texas reversing it's current course what with Houston and Austin having significant gay populations.
Houston, the 4th largest metro area in the nation, elected an out and gay mayor this past November.
Barney Frank has been in high office for over two decades. Granted, that's a mixed bag.
The latest polls by Rasmussen show that support for gay marriage is at 53% across the nation.
I'm not meaning to imply that the fight is over. I'm not meaning to say we don't have progress yet to work for. What I am meaning to say is that our world is getting better every day. We are going to come to a time, in my lifetime, where most people just don't give a shit who you sleep with. Whereas when I was a kid I could not imagine such a time, today I can see it pretty clearly.
Maybe I'll even be able to come out to my mom before she passes. I doubt it. But, I look at the situation with hope.
Pasa
I also love the progressive social changes in my lifetime. I am a child who was a victim of forced bussing in the 70s. We've certainly come a long way from that, right Mr. President? And we've come a long way in terms of gay rights.
I read some posters, and hear some guys in one of the local gay bars I haunt proclaim bitterly about "straights", "breeders" and other nasty social diseases like conservatives and...*whispers* Christians being the cause of all of their woes.
It truly confuses me. Sure, there is still homo/bi phobia out there. My mother is a prime example of this. But, even though I'll never come out to her, she is not a source of my problems or my worries. She is a product of a different generation and she just wouldn't understand. And that's ok.
But, I look around and think to myself that the amount of struggle the GLBT community has is significantly lessened from what it was. Let's take a look at today's society.
Will And Grace has been in re-runs for nearly 5 years after a 10 year run. And let's face it, that show showed a very wide range of GLBT life and brought it into the forefront of American culture. It brought a certain normalcy.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is still the best thing to ever come from Bravo Network.
Gay/Straight Alliances are flourishing in schools across the nation.
This year's Gay Pride Parade in Houston had record attendance, even considering that we are in the middle of one of the worst heat waves in the past 60 years.
Websites like this one are visible and well populated, and not just by gays or bisexuals.
Gay marriage is legal in 8 states, one of which is now New York, one of the largest states and generally is considered a leader (where New York, California, and Texas go, the nation generally follows). California's Prop 8 will be repealed, and I can see Texas reversing it's current course what with Houston and Austin having significant gay populations.
Houston, the 4th largest metro area in the nation, elected an out and gay mayor this past November.
Barney Frank has been in high office for over two decades. Granted, that's a mixed bag.
The latest polls by Rasmussen show that support for gay marriage is at 53% across the nation.
I'm not meaning to imply that the fight is over. I'm not meaning to say we don't have progress yet to work for. What I am meaning to say is that our world is getting better every day. We are going to come to a time, in my lifetime, where most people just don't give a shit who you sleep with. Whereas when I was a kid I could not imagine such a time, today I can see it pretty clearly.
Maybe I'll even be able to come out to my mom before she passes. I doubt it. But, I look at the situation with hope.
Pasa