Being quite gay*, I have a pretty good gaydar.
I knew someone in my high school year was gay four years before she did from her body posture in class.
Being homo you also develop a pretty good homophobestrobe which detects the presence of fear inside other people (a bit like gaydar but uses electromagnetic pulse instead of radio waves).
I've been lucky enough to encounter homophobia from institutions and individuals, sometimes in the form of non-recognition, sometimes in the form of physical and verbal abuse, sometimes in the form of denial. Some people decide not to talk to me because I'm gay. Reciprocally, I decide not to talk to some people because I'm gay.
Why would a sane person walk onto the flabby tongue of an open-mouthed crocodile? I don't hide, I just choose not to let myself get mauled by people with sharp teeth. How do you see the dimensions of someone's teeth? Listen to their vocabulary. Listen to their ideas.
I am all for dentistry. People can get all kinds of work done, teeth filed down, braces, dentures, fillings... People change. And I know that opinions and values are social constructions that can be de-constructed, and I'm interested in reconstructing them by being rational e.g. "is it better to ignore something that exists or acknowledge something that exists?", "is violence an appropriate response to a non-violent phenomena?"
I find marginalised and repressed people often have a wicked sense of humour. You can either hang yourself or laugh at the fact that mainstream society, media and politics aren't talking about you when they say "family", "marriage" and even "love" because of something as inconsequential as your sexuality (love in advertising is heterosexual love). Either get hurt by it or hurt yourself laughing over it.
This leaves me in a problematic space. Being comfortable with yourself means you have nothing to prove, yet being a member of a minority group means constantly having to prove that your existence is legitimate.
Proving that you have the right to have nothing to prove... It's like undergoing a job interview for the position of Yourself.
I believe I am the best applicant for being Myself.
*by quite gay I mean mostly, partially, occasionally, absolutely, annually, casually, semantically, linguistically, literally, litigiously, strictly, spiritually, sporadically, superficially, religiously and not gay, because sexuality isn't a salami you can slice.
I knew someone in my high school year was gay four years before she did from her body posture in class.
Being homo you also develop a pretty good homophobestrobe which detects the presence of fear inside other people (a bit like gaydar but uses electromagnetic pulse instead of radio waves).
I've been lucky enough to encounter homophobia from institutions and individuals, sometimes in the form of non-recognition, sometimes in the form of physical and verbal abuse, sometimes in the form of denial. Some people decide not to talk to me because I'm gay. Reciprocally, I decide not to talk to some people because I'm gay.
Why would a sane person walk onto the flabby tongue of an open-mouthed crocodile? I don't hide, I just choose not to let myself get mauled by people with sharp teeth. How do you see the dimensions of someone's teeth? Listen to their vocabulary. Listen to their ideas.
I am all for dentistry. People can get all kinds of work done, teeth filed down, braces, dentures, fillings... People change. And I know that opinions and values are social constructions that can be de-constructed, and I'm interested in reconstructing them by being rational e.g. "is it better to ignore something that exists or acknowledge something that exists?", "is violence an appropriate response to a non-violent phenomena?"
I find marginalised and repressed people often have a wicked sense of humour. You can either hang yourself or laugh at the fact that mainstream society, media and politics aren't talking about you when they say "family", "marriage" and even "love" because of something as inconsequential as your sexuality (love in advertising is heterosexual love). Either get hurt by it or hurt yourself laughing over it.
This leaves me in a problematic space. Being comfortable with yourself means you have nothing to prove, yet being a member of a minority group means constantly having to prove that your existence is legitimate.
Proving that you have the right to have nothing to prove... It's like undergoing a job interview for the position of Yourself.
 |
Why do you believe that?
I've been Myself for 23 years.
How will you perform in that role?
I won't perform.
Why not?
It comes naturally to me.
Are you sure you're qualified?
*by quite gay I mean mostly, partially, occasionally, absolutely, annually, casually, semantically, linguistically, literally, litigiously, strictly, spiritually, sporadically, superficially, religiously and not gay, because sexuality isn't a salami you can slice.
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