I'm Not Proud To Be Gay

Contents:

• WHY I'M NOT PROUD OF BEG GAY
• DEAR LEFTISTS: ACTUALLY, NO, BEG GAY IS NOTHG TO BE 'PROUD' OF...
• WHY I DON'T CELEBRATE GAY PRI
• I'M NOT PROUD TO BE GAY
• HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY
• CAN SOMEONE BE HOMOSEXUAL AND NOT GAY?

WHY I'M NOT PROUD OF BEG GAY

I’m spired to engage this lguistic activy bee the annual "Pri Week" for gays and lbians is soon at hand, and I’m particularly terted knowg what is, exactly, that I’m supposed to be proud the followg two OED fns, for example, pri is portrayed as beg herently antisocial, a very, very bad thg: pri n. Now, if embracg "gay pri" were done simply for the slap--the-face-to-relign effect, I’d be all for .

DEAR LEFTISTS: ACTUALLY, NO, BEG GAY IS NOTHG TO BE 'PROUD' OF...

Yet unfortunately—and to my ntued bewilrment—there are many gay people who are relig, so this acunt don’t seem to hold much water. It’s not terribly surprisg, this light, that dividuals who are more prone to exhibg hubristic pri tend also to be more disagreeable, nrotic, narcissistic, are ls nscient and have a history of poor relatnships and mental health when to the exprsn "gay pri, " hubristic pri don’t seem to be implied. I’ve no doubt that some gays and lbians probably do believe, for some odd postmornist reason or another, that they are herently superr to straights.

But gay or straight, anyone who actually believ that social stat n be lculated on the basis of what their genals unnscly rpond to should be dismissed jt as swiftly as those who believe that God has a sore spot for pri. In any event, for the most part, hubristic pri appears to be the emotnal anthis of the feelgs meant to spire gay dividuals durg Pri Week. I wonr, then, if perhaps there’s another OED fn that better reflects the te spir of "gay pri.

So "gay pri" unr the guise of thentic pri seems jt as problematic to me as do for hubristic pri. Eher we elect to see ourselv as beg "born this way" and not of our own makg, which would lim our sense of pri to the hubristic subtype ("I’m better than you bee I’m gay"), or we mt subm to the tellectually impaired among and ntend that we’ve chosen this “liftyle” for some mendable reason.

WHY I DON'T CELEBRATE GAY PRI

I’m no more proud of beg gay than I am of beg Csian, of havg type I diabet, of beg 5'7"—okay, heels—or of havg abnormally stocky hands for a man my size.

Like beg gay, the are simply the unassailable, blogilly-based facts about me, and what is, is. But, and here’s the real kicker, so listen up, the absence of pri is not is, alas, at least one OED fn that perhaps reflects the tend age of the exprsn "gay pri" and that seems to ronate wh s nnotatns.

I n almost get on board wh this variatn of the term when ’s applied to "gay pri"—I know my gay history, Pri Week’s nnectns to the Stonewall Rts of June, 1969, I know my value as a human beg, and I’ve also had a genero slice of antigay bigotry directed at me—right at my forehead, fact. ) I suppose the only problem that I have wh this form of "gay pri"—and ’s substantially ls of a ncern than the other two forms, I should add—is rts on the assumptn of a largely mythil, llective gay inty. In my everyday life, and unls you brg up, beg gay is about as salient to my self-ncept as is my havg brown hair or drivg a Honda; I don’t feel—wa for the gasps—a particular affy wh other gay people jt bee they’re gay.

I'M NOT PROUD TO BE GAY

I might want to have sex wh other gay men, sure. But anythg else, well, there jt simply aren’t any shared psychologil tras that brg together some trsic the one hand, I unrstand the need for fg supportive allianc wh other gays and lbians, for exertg change through llaborative, anized effort and by sheer strength numbers.

HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY

Our very need to even have "gay pri, " to celebrate "Pri Week" through ma street paras ftooned wh drag queens, leather daddi, and dyk on bik, is such a pathetic reflectn of what we thk we should and shouldn’t be proud of as human begs that I’m aaid I jt n’t mter up the requise "gay pri" to feel this, I’ll be on the sil watchg the floats and all the pretty boys go by, marvelg and salivatg at the lurid excs that vigorate the very same stereotyp that we spend the rt of the year fightg agast. ”In March, some men will cry the need for an Internatnal Women’s Day, celebrated on the is Pri Month, a time to reflect on and celebrate lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer history. There is a level of social and systemic privilege not afford to many members of the LGBTQ muny North Ameri, and certaly many untri around the is herently polilPri has been celebrated every year June sce 1970 after the 1969 Stonewall rts New York, when police raid the Stonewall Canada, Toronto’s Pri was lnched siar fashn after protts epted when police raid four bathho Febary 1981 and arrted hundreds of gay motive has always been — and should rema — polil.

It was a “gay purge, ” and was still happeng ls than 30 years ago. The slg back of hard-earned rights and protectns of LGBTQ people, particularly transgenr people, is difficult to when straight people ask why there is a need for gay pri or wonr why there aren’t straight pri celebratns, feels a lot like they are sayg ntributns by LGBTQ people — a mory group that fac nstant adversy — are simply not worthy of regnn. Dear people who gay all the thgs, Today is the first day of "Pri Month.

CAN SOMEONE BE HOMOSEXUAL AND NOT GAY?

Gay up wh everyone. It's about GAY PRIDE!