I’m A Gay Man. Here’s Why I Don’t Celebrate Pri Month

Contents:

• I’M A GAY MAN. HERE’S WHY I DON’T CELEBRATE PRI MONTH
• GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET
• HOW CORPORATNS ARE PROFG OM GAY PRI
• GAY PRI

I’M A GAY MAN. HERE’S WHY I DON’T CELEBRATE PRI MONTH

The difference between what means to be a gay person on the Right and a gay person on the Left is beg far more profound than mere polil disagreement. Although there is much discsn about the legimacy of gay nservativ, we often don’t articulate why we reject our socially assigned muny, or how difficult that separatn n sometim be. The very ncept of “gay” rights and activism to force a sexual revolutn is the basis of today’s liberalism.

Gays did not beg by askg for marriage or to be viewed as everyday cizens; the movement grew om social rejectn and tentnal unter-culture behavrs and worldviews. Like most gays my age, I have a set of mon social experienc, but I am told I am not entled to enjoy or appreciate them.

I grew up wh a generatn of gay movi, magaz, onle chat rooms, micians and, of urse, drag queens. But by rejectg what LGBT is today, I am expected to forfe all cultural experienc lkg me to the gay muny.

GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET

Much of how society views me is stctured around media imag of gay men, ually origatg om “Will and Grace, ” “Ellen, ” and RuPl. My iends, fay, workers, and those wh whom I engage onle hold a certa set of expectatns for me to happily fulfill as their gay iend. While growg up, I watched the gay world through movi, the Inter, and magaz and imaged an environment of lghter, mic, and genue acceptance.

It promised a world of acceptance and normalcy where my dreams as a person supersed my limatns as a gay man. There are gay people who have embraced equaly and tegrated to daily life exactly as they are, whout fear or hatn, and gay people who still believe they mt surround themselv wh a rabow flag.

In the et time of our history this untry, when a Republin print is un-self-nscly gay-iendly and nservativ open their arms to like-md gay cizens, the gay Left remas unr an umbrella of self-perpetuatg fear and doom.

HOW CORPORATNS ARE PROFG OM GAY PRI

Pri month no longer holds power or weight my world precisely bee beg gay is not the fundamental attribute that f me. As the LGBT movement ntu to move to the Left and s opprsive characteristics grow proportn, many people happy their liv as gay dividuals will beg to unrstand what I and other gay nservativ have realized for a long time.

Gays who move outsi of the limg polil boundari of the LGBT movement have to regnize that our personal sense of inty wh the culture is ours alone, but will always be fluenced by polics. I hope my experience will one day be mon for most gay people to enjoy, and the rabow flag will be jt a remr of a time our past when culture was changg, and we had somethg to celebrate.

GAY PRI

But even though the nversatns that muted this lumn for six weeks are nowhere close to beg over, I do feel like some thgs that me up durg that time of ntemplatn are worth sayg now — particularly to my fellow whe gay cis out more stori on LGBTQ+ ins and activistsHowever, the ghost of Larry Kramer very much remaed my own head as I ma my way through a Pri month unlike any other. I spent a few quiet afternoons readg his 1978 but novel Faggots, a satiril (yet clearly tobgraphil) look at the liv of gay men 1970s New York Cy that he wrote jt before AIDS ma him a figurehead of Amerin activism.

Followg a man his late 30s (based on Kramer himself) who is seekg out a lovg, long-term relatnship a sea of hedonism, the novel has a clear msage: gay men need to start lovg each other stead of beg so obssed wh gettg fucked up and (lerally and figuratively) fuckg each other. - Larry Kramer his but novelUpon publitn, Faggots was dismissed by many as puranil and self-loathg for s cricism of gay men's obssn wh vany, promiscuy and recreatnal dg e. And while, on one level, the book is a wild (if at tim problematic) wdow to an era of gay culture 40 years the past, also felt like had a lot to say about gay culture today.

In mastream gay media, the phrase almost always refers to a fairly specific subset of the LGBTQ "muny" largely ma up of whe gay cis men — even though many of the battl won around queer rights were fought by people of lour, trans and genr-nonnformg folks, and queer women, and fact the morn Pri movement self was large part iated by Black trans women.