Orlando
For the past few months I sort of drifted from the community. I didn't go to last year's pride for no real reason. I suppose I always felt slightly apart as, as a bisexual man, I had more biphobia from the gay community than homophobia from straights (though that is in part due to the "invisibility" of it) and I always felt somewhat on the sidelines - despite volunteering for LGBT charities for most of my life.
I've never been taken aback by the news like what happened with Orlando. It wasn't just the initial shock, but what happened after. The denial and the half-statements from the people and leaders who stoked this hatred to begin with. They demonise and attack us through words and laws then give hollow condemnation of those who act on their oratory. Journalists trying to skirt the fact that this is a homophobic attack that is simply the logical extension of the regular bullying, harassment, beating and murder of us that happens every day, egged on by ignorant, populist and xenophobic talk of the very people who stood up and used this to point the finger of blame at a religion or make out this is a fringe lunatic. No. It is all connected. It is connected to you. The journalist, the politician, the wanker in the pub who shouts faggot at the tv when someone slightly camp is on. Even my mother who complains about how "not ever character has to be gay" when she sees a gay person on tv once in a blue moon - despite the fact I'm sitting right there. Bless her, she's rural.
And then came the fact it was, in a manner, one of our own. Should have guessed. How many of the great homophobes of history have been our own, corrupted by a society into hating themselves so they lash out at the rest of us. That is what I find most horrific about the society we're in. It doesn't even have to attack us directly. It just points our own against us and wait for the blood to flow. Which they don't want anywhere near them of course because we're dirty.
Some people think that marriage is the last step to equality. No. Laws are the first step. We have a cultural war to wage to society at large and to our own sisters and brothers brainwashed by hatred. If you ever think we don't need pride anymore because we're "equal", think back to Orlando. We have to lead by our rather fabulous example and raise the flag high. Because the last few years, and history as a whole, have shown we can't take our freedom for granted. The world is getting more dangerous, but we are here to stay.
Sorry for the rant... thanks to everyone who keeps the flag flying while some of us doubt.
I've never been taken aback by the news like what happened with Orlando. It wasn't just the initial shock, but what happened after. The denial and the half-statements from the people and leaders who stoked this hatred to begin with. They demonise and attack us through words and laws then give hollow condemnation of those who act on their oratory. Journalists trying to skirt the fact that this is a homophobic attack that is simply the logical extension of the regular bullying, harassment, beating and murder of us that happens every day, egged on by ignorant, populist and xenophobic talk of the very people who stood up and used this to point the finger of blame at a religion or make out this is a fringe lunatic. No. It is all connected. It is connected to you. The journalist, the politician, the wanker in the pub who shouts faggot at the tv when someone slightly camp is on. Even my mother who complains about how "not ever character has to be gay" when she sees a gay person on tv once in a blue moon - despite the fact I'm sitting right there. Bless her, she's rural.
And then came the fact it was, in a manner, one of our own. Should have guessed. How many of the great homophobes of history have been our own, corrupted by a society into hating themselves so they lash out at the rest of us. That is what I find most horrific about the society we're in. It doesn't even have to attack us directly. It just points our own against us and wait for the blood to flow. Which they don't want anywhere near them of course because we're dirty.
Some people think that marriage is the last step to equality. No. Laws are the first step. We have a cultural war to wage to society at large and to our own sisters and brothers brainwashed by hatred. If you ever think we don't need pride anymore because we're "equal", think back to Orlando. We have to lead by our rather fabulous example and raise the flag high. Because the last few years, and history as a whole, have shown we can't take our freedom for granted. The world is getting more dangerous, but we are here to stay.
Sorry for the rant... thanks to everyone who keeps the flag flying while some of us doubt.
