Month: June 2006

This year’s pride wasn’t as exciting or entertaining as previous years, but that had a lot to do with the weather (Friday, the stage blew over, and Sunday, there was a torrential downpour during and after the parade) and well, my getting older (i.e., not able to drink all day AND night). But overall, I had a great time hanging out with friends, and enjoying the crowds. Saturday was the main day for us, and it was hotter than I believe it could ever be without the risk of me melting, but we managed to hang out in the park most of the day. After he left us, a good friend of mine did his part in getting back at the hateful protesters that always accompany pride. Here’s a picture of him doing us proud:

He apparently stood out there for about an hour, and endured this man pushing him in the back and saying hateful things to him the whole time. That was a pretty awesome thing to do, Josh.

Overall, I love that we have pride, and that it is such a big affair here every year. I hope that it only continues to grow, and we can continue to celebrate our diversity, and pride for who we are. It also gives me a warm feeling to know that there are that many GLBT people out there that come together on pride, and even more so that there are so many straight supporters celebrating with us, as well. Now if we could just get a year where it doesn’t rain… Perhaps next year!

Similar, but not too similar, to my thoughts on pride, a fellow atlblogger decided to say some pretty mean things about me after I said that he was self-hating because of his constant negative critique of anything and everything gay, and I know that there are at least a few of you that are interested in my response. Well, my response is that it makes me wonder about someone that continually portrays themselves as dissatisfied and unhappy with practically anything related to being gay, or gay culture (in that it may represent our culture outwardly to the overall society in ways that other people may or may not approve of), that doesn’t feel that his critique at least gives the illusion of self-hatred or denial; based on his affliation with said group. Wanting something to be “better” or “more representative” doesn’t come across through constant critique and judgement. Many of us don’t see the portrayal of, or expression of, “stereotypical” or “negative” representations of gay culture as necessarily weakening our “political movement” or “our cause”. To me, and the reason I made the statement to him, pride weekend is about a celebration of who we are, warts and all, not a political forum for furthering the “gay agenda”. If it represents us as anything, in my opinion it shows that we are just as diverse as “mainstream” society, and that while some may see us as deviant, we celebrate our uniqueness in the way that we know how; after all, something that differentiates us from the “mainstream” based on sex (the act of, not biological) carries certain sexual expressions and representations, to expect otherwise is a recipe for disappointment. I am also a believer that practically any representation of us in the media (albeit, positive, not negative) is a good thing, because it normalizes us even more, and that only the ignorant will truly believe that all gays are limp wristed nellies. If my call about him was off-kilter, it was simply a response to the many negative critiques that serve as the evidence I have seen on his blog thus far. Furthermore, I will end this by saying that I now realize that my first mistake was giving a rats ass about anything he had to say, and that I will not be making this mistake in the future. Obviously, I, along with many others, tend to get confused when people constantly critique and talk down about something they are a part of, while what they actually mean, is that they support and want to improve it. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Last night, I watched the LIfetime movie, A Girl Like Me, which was about the life, and tragic death, of Gwen Araujo. After watching that movie, it reminded me just how unsafe we can be, and just how cruel both people and society can be towards the GLBT community. Unfortunately, transgendered people carry the biggest burden when simply trying to be themselves in life, and as expressed by Gwen’s story, that burden can end in tragedy. But the tragedy here, to me, is not only her horrible death, but it is that the men that beat her, strangled her to death, and then buried her received very small prison sentences and penalties for such a heinous and violent hate crime. The jury was not convinced that the people that killed Gwen killed her because she was trangendered. But what other reason did they beat her and strangle her to death? I ask seriously, what other reason? It just doesn’t make sense.

I believe that this is honestly the reason that I get so defensive when people try and call homosexuality and transgenderedness a choice; it is the biggest slap in the face for someone to deny how hard someone struggles just to be themselves and feel normal against all odds, by calling that struggle simply a choice. Gwen, and many like her, just tried to be herself, and people killed her for it. They killed her because they were too afraid of who she was, and that is just something that I can’t believe. I can’t believe it, because I would like to believe that people are better than that. I would like to believe that people possess compassion and understanding; more than judgement and hate. People must stop this madness of hating (and even killing) what is different; what they do not understand. People have got to learn acceptance, which to me, doesn’t seem that difficult of a concept to master. So why do things like this still happen?

If people want to live in a world where we maintain freedom, justice, love, and even Religious morality, then we have all got to stop being so fucking hateful. Movies like this are a chilling reminder that many of us are not safe, and beg us to wonder just why we can’t be. I hope that things can change. I hope that hate crime legislation and law can become stricter. I hope that people like the ones that killed Gwen are actually charged with the hate crimes they commit; because if they don’t, we all remain in danger because of who we are. I feel sorry for Gwen and her family, because no one should have to endure such torture and punishment; just because of who they are.