In our society today, people have many posns when to gay people. Some people offer acceptance and shelter om hatred and will work towards human rights. Others take the attu of "they're happy and not hurtg anyone," so...
Contents:
- GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET
- HOW TO BEHAVE AROUND GAY PEOPLE IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT THEM
- “I DON’T FEEL LIKE I BELONG TO THE GAY COMMUNY AND IT’S DEVASTATG ME.”
GAY CULTURE HAS GROWN TOXIC WH UNCHECKED PRIVILEGE. IT'S TIME FOR TO RET
An open letter to my fellow whe gay cis men: there should be no "returng to normal" after this. * i don't like the gay community *
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.
HOW TO BEHAVE AROUND GAY PEOPLE IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT THEM
* i don't like the gay community *
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.
What even do mean to say "gay culture"? 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.
“I DON’T FEEL LIKE I BELONG TO THE GAY COMMUNY AND IT’S DEVASTATG ME.”
If an imprsn of a monolhic "gay culture" fed by such a homogeneo mographic exists, is bee whe gay cis men have until very recently domated mastream reprentatn unr the LGBTQ umbrella and have, general, been hand a level of privilege the last that is wildly disproportnate to any other mographic unr said umbrella.
(Prophetilly enough, Fire Island is where the climax of Faggots — Kramer's exriatn of "gay culture" — tak place.
The panmic sentially shut down all of social gay culture, relievg me of prsur to participate . Gay bars were shuttered and, unls you were beg a horribly irrponsible person, Grdr was no more.