He's gay? Him too? Them too!

 Lately my daily ritual is to check out what is posted on the blog, The Gay Almanac, I enjoy reading about people past and present that are members of the LGBTQ community, their accomplishments and legacies, plus the people who are looking out for us. It's like our very own personal history and information page. I know we shouldn't look back longingly to our past, I just can't help wishing we had something like this when I was growing up. Many mornings I spend spraying my coffee out onto my phone yelling, "he's gay, I didn't know he's gay"! If only we had known that so many people we once admired, were also just like us.

 I once watched a very conservative person insist that gay youth absolutely do not need gay role models. Being gay himself, he said gay youth only need good role models. He went on to brag about all his accomplishments that he had achieved. I felt he conveniently forgot about all the people who cleared the way for him to make those achievements. He forgets that only a few decades ago, he could have been jailed for being gay and spent his life rotting in a cell instead of being interviewed on t.v. This man has an agenda to push so he picks and chooses the parts of gay society that meshes with his story.

 I think it's important for gay youth to see themselves in today's society. How can people say that kids in sports need role models, that kids of certain minority groups need role models but when it comes to LGBTQ role models, they are not needed. There are still many places in Western countries where being gay is not ok. Those young kids need to see that many of the good people doing interesting things in the world today, are members of the LGBTQ community just like them and are proud of it.

 Sometimes life can imitate art, I was reading comments about a movie that recently was released, regarding a gay teenager coming out. I think the general feeling was that the movie is too nice, that it should have been more tortured. I say why can't today's gay youth get to have their own love story. I know I sure wanted one. They were all tortured and depressing when I was a kid and I can't see how that benefited me in the least. It just made me wish I was straight more! I can remember straight people getting upset over a gay film where one of the gay leads said that they didn't feel tortured. That was shocking to movie critics, how dare a gay person enjoy being gay!

 There are happy endings now, I have seen awesome coming out stories for the younger generations. If your parents watched and enjoyed the original Will and Grace, I really doubt they are going to reject you for coming out. I think there is nothing wrong with seeing a gay love story no matter how mushy, maybe gay people could expect a little romance as a way of starting relationships. It sure would be a step up from the usual strangers hooking up. Speaking of life imitating art, I remember when Ellen first came out on her show, she made the comment that there is no such thing as a cake with "Congratulations You're Gay" written on it. That made people think why not, yes it's sappy, yes it's nice, yes it wasn't reality; however after I remember for years some people who came out to friends got a surprise cake saying that very thing. I usually got a hug, except my straight male friend, he gave me a handshake and said congratulations on coming out.


The Gay Almanac is on my blog list I recommend you check it out.
Mistress Maddie also often blogs about the history of drag while looking fabulous doing it!