Saturday, August 02, 2008
You're so gay...
I got an email from my half brother (my brother by my mother and her second husband) and since I was hunting for something worth posting about, found it blog-worthy...
He says:
Hello Reese,
Just checked out the website again and I felt the need to be blunt. Damn... you are gay.
With that being said, I must be equally as blunt in telling you that I don't care and most of America, if you have not heard lately, doesn't really care either. I guess it used to be a big deal but nowadays it is really seen as kind of normal and I say that while living in deep deep south! Don't get me wrong, people still discuss the logistics but even here in GA people accept it. So I guess what I am saying is nobody here really cares that you or anyone else is gay... if for some reason you think we do. You most likely do not but I thought I would say it out of love anyway.
On to more important things...
Just checked out the website again and I felt the need to be blunt. Damn... you are gay.
With that being said, I must be equally as blunt in telling you that I don't care and most of America, if you have not heard lately, doesn't really care either. I guess it used to be a big deal but nowadays it is really seen as kind of normal and I say that while living in deep deep south! Don't get me wrong, people still discuss the logistics but even here in GA people accept it. So I guess what I am saying is nobody here really cares that you or anyone else is gay... if for some reason you think we do. You most likely do not but I thought I would say it out of love anyway.
On to more important things...
Now, I, personally, don't think that my website is very gay. In fact, in proportion to the other content here, very little is about my sex life. But that's probably not what he means, anyways, is it that there is a visibly obvious element to teh gays beyond their sexuality.
If the only difference between us and them is the gender that we choose to have relations with then what IS this other visibility. Are we so segregated by our own desire to be different, or has that identity been coerced onto us by the media, and the way that the gay-celebre make us appear.
I responded to his email initially with this:
Tolver and I worked very hard over the years with our peers to push the acceptance that we enjoy today. When we were younger it was very different. Its good to hear that you "don't care," years of education and over-exposure have done their job but there is a good deal more work to do. Unfortunately, the same sickness that has engulfed the government and politics of this society have also sickened the gay rights movement.
Yet, there is a whole new turn of the tide happening, with each new generation. If you talk to young people, early 20s, they will tell you that they don't like either label, gay or straight. Both are too limiting.
I think that it is interesting that I took the tone of his email to suggest that he, and his peers, are just tired of hearing about teh gays, period. To me, it points out that what might be seen as the last death throws of old-style homophobia, might actually be only the beginning of the repercussions of faggot overload.
Labels: Our Queer Family
link | posted by Reese at 1:24 PM
1 Comments:
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commented:
Well, your brother seems to have come a pretty long way...which is indicative of some of society's changes, IMHO. Being Mr. Positive, I have to see that as a good thing, while remembering that we, as gay people, have gotten used to the idea of being outcasts. While it's getting better, I also believe it's as difficult for us to give up THAT role, as it is for straights to come to terms with us.
Just my $0.02.
Love to you and my ohana.- » Friday, August 08, 2008 2:03:00 PM