Gay Pride?

[TopManFL (imported)]

I wrote this for my tumblr blog. Thought I'd Share it here as well.

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--- Gay Pride? --

It’s pride month. I’ve seen threads on various websites where younger gay men question the idea of calling it “pride”. They point out that accomplishments make them proud and they don’t feel being gay is an accomplishment. Rather, they see it as simply who they are.

I answer with a history lesson.

There was a time in my life where just being in a bar known to be frequented by gay men could get you arrested, kept in jail over night and then the next day your picture, name, address and place of work were published in the paper. Of course your boss fired you to avoid a stain on the company’s image.

I’ve seen medical pictures of gay men castrated back in the 60’s and 70’s to “cure homosexuality”. It only takes about 6 months for a healthy young man (the one I’m thinking of was 19) to have serious body morphing. Fat redistribution, loss of muscle mass and of course no sex drive at all.

Harvey Milk, the San Francisco Commissioner, who was murdered in his office at City Hall for being gay had previously lived in New York City.

Back in the late 40s and into the 60s the law made it obscene for a gay man to tan topless in Central Park. A straight man could tan topless and it was considered normal.

Harvey Milk and dozens of other gay men were arrested and jailed for indecent exposure. They were tanning with their shirts off. Only a few feet away were dozens of men tanning in just their shorts who were not considered to be indecent. The difference was that Harvey Milk and his friends were grouped with other men. The men who were tanning with a female companion weren’t being obscene, only the gay men.

The legal logic was that gay men went topless to attract other gay men and since gay sex was illegal, they were attempting to do something illegal and therefore going topless was obscene - but not for straight men.

I try to explain that in 1969 the stonewall riots were the result of decades of shame and fear being used to instill terror into gay men. That the police raid on a bar full of gay men who were doing nothing other than being in the bar was the last straw.

Most historians mark Stonewall as being the start of the gay rights movement. The term “pride” was a adopted in direct contrast to the shaming tactics used by the authorities to instill a self loathing in gay men.

I’ve live through the era when two men having sex in their own bedroom in their own home had their door broken down by police and were arrested and charged with a crime.

I not only remember the horror of the Matthew Shepard’s murder, I also remember the speech in the House of Representatives by Virginia Fox claiming it was all fake - while Matthew Shepard’s mother listened from the gallery.

The Pulse night club massacre proves that terror is still being used against the gay community to create a sense of shame in every gay person.

In some countries a person can be executed under the law for being gay. No action is required - just being gay is a capital offense.

Today in Iran, a if a gay man if found out by the authorities he has two choices. The first is to be put to death. The second choice is to undergo a forced sexual reassignment. Yes, the Iranian government will pay for an unwanted sex change surgery for gay men to avoid a public hanging.

I hope to live long enough that “Gay Pride Month” is changed to “Gay History Month”.

We are not yet at that point and it’s still a natural reaction to counter intentional shaming by picking up that shame and wearing it as a badge of

PRIDE