h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello All!
Speaking as a gay man of some 32 years, who doesn't naturally follow the lines of the "scene" or current political thinking or trendy spin, I have made the observations below -

I never really understand the inherent dichotomy between acceptance and ghettoism. Too many gay people in my country seem to view gayness as some exclusive club, one in which everyone dresses impeccably, in which shallowness is the order of the day, and which flaunts a vanity and an intolerant view of any appearance that would not ordinarily find itself upon the covers of "gay interest" magazines. They complain about being isolated in society, about wanting to be accepted into society, and then open gay-only clubs - of course, we call them gay-friendly, because we wouldn't want to be accused of intolerance, but how many of them would be pleased to find that all the men they find attractive are straight? Clearly, we do not really seek to encourage laddishness into gay-friendly environments, we only want to be seen to be encouraging such. In my town, a gay pub opened, which was considered an amazing coup by all, and a certain failure by as many. It was, indeed, a failure! But what was to blame? There was a gay clientele, so that worked. Regular straight customers felt omitted from events and conversations, so they dwindled. There were none of the anticipated violent clashes between drunken straight/gay groups in the streets nearby. Yet, when it closed the two landlords elected to blame homophobia - there were claims that Combat 18, a fascist group, had broken windows and daubed anti-gay propaganda. This came as some surprise to the barstaff and regular gay visitors, since no-one had witnessed any such thing. There was and still remains no offensive grafitti on the pub's visage. No, the truth as it emerged, though sadly never included in the newspaper coverage, was that the brewery had taken the licence off them for running up bills on the previous publicans credit and defrauding the brewery. It is a shame, but that is the truth as observed and witnessed by an awful lot of closely associated and supportive gay people.

So, my home town is branded in Gay Times as homophobic, because it is a much more acceptable view of the world than corrupt gays fiddling their employers. I am openly gay to anyone who is bothered to ask, but I must say that few people are inclined to ask - it's not an issue, and for those that find it an issue, they are people who exhibit every manner of prejudice.

And this is really the point. If we continue to persist in removing ourselves from debates, if we insist that we should always be afforded some kind of special treatment why should we be surprised to find ourselves isolated and scrutinised. We are no more judged than we are fat people, ginger-haired people, skinny people, bald people, old people, single mothers, children, youths, recreational drug users, supporters of political parties to whom we do not personally subscribe. The concept of prejudice is too widespread and far too human to overcome with pressure groups. It is in our very nature to identify and isolate something in others in order to assert our own view of ourselves. Unfortunately, we never seem to view anything positive when we do so. We don't like people with ginger hair - but why? Well, they have ginger pubic hair, don't they - snigger... And aren't they supposed to have terrible tempers? Well, if that were true in any sense whatsoever, I could forgive someone being in a black mood if they found themselves so judged. But the fact is it is not true. It is just further evidence of the need to prejudice one's self towards another.

I do not believe the way ahead is to demand integration whilst practising isolation. I do not believe the way ahead is to kowtow to "public thinking" - a phrase that so often seems a contradiction - or to actively rebel against it. That only confirms and cements views. Sexism, like racism and every other important division we put between ourselves and our fellow man or woman is only a state of mind, and that is difficult enough to overcome one-on-one. The true error here is in thinking that we can make people care about the other feller - it has never been in the human animal to care for the other feller, as Darwin would no doubt remind us. We have strayed too far down the path and I doubt we will find our way back now.

Please prove me wrong. Please.

unfortunatly alot of this is true, your right doctor sometimes we do tend towards this.... aahhh its almost like a self pity thing is suppose


but something will have to change sometime i guess, its just a matter of what isnt it?

Charlie X x X