On Being Gay in the 21st Century

Welcome to Ramblings of a Gay Man, my irregularly occurring writings on being gay in the 21st century. This feature is born out of a desire to be relevant, I suppose.

I've had a presence on the web since the mid 90's, and originally two of the main features of my site were gay-related - Gay Media Resource List and Who's Who & Who's Gay. Those features were important then, because being out was still not a given for people. Well, I guess it's still not a given, but it was harder back then, I think (and harder still in the 80's and so on back into the depths of our history as a movement).

So why do I feel the need for my being gay to be relevant? Politics in America. In this country the far-right continue to use the GLBT community as their demonized whipping dogs every time they need a boost in the polls. I feel a need to do something. But politics isn't my thing, and marches on Washington don't happen anymore, and how effective were they anyway? The most important act I can take, I think, is to remind people that I'm gay, and that gay issues have a face.

Shoving it under someone's nose, though, isn't my style. I'm gay, I'm out and open and unapologetic, but I'm also so much more than that.  I think people forget that I'm gay most times, because I don't wear it like a badge on my shoulder. But it's not because I'm trying to hide; au contraire, just try and hide me! I just don't find it to be my most defining characteristic, so I don't emphasize it. But to combat the demonization of being gay, I need to do just that. Hence this blog is born.