Growing up as a homosexual has been difficult in many ways. Even after going through coming to terms with my sexuality and coming out to most of my family and friends, there are still difficulties I faced after the most challenging moments of my journey.
Growing up as a homosexual has been difficult in many ways. Even after going through coming to terms with my sexuality and coming out to most of my family and friends, there are still difficulties I faced after the most challenging moments of my journey.
As society’s perception of gay individuals changes, the gay community has seen a strange new form of homophobia arising. Many people have come to accept the sexuality itself without embracing and understanding the culture behind it, the thought process being along the lines of “I don’t mind if you are gay, just don’t flaunt it.”
But this raises two important questions: Where has society drawn the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior for homosexuals, and why is embracing one’s sexuality a negative thing? Unfortunately the answer is closely tied to stereotypes about the gay community that society have deemed undesirable.
For me, gay culture seems to come naturally. I speak in a higher tone, the majority of my friends are women, I usually have a keen eye for fashion and design, and I frequently binge watch entire seasons of Ru Paul’s “Drag Race.” I fit so many stereotypes that I have stopped keeping track. I have been told multiple times in my life that these are negative traits and that I shouldn’t ‘flaunt’ my sexuality in these ways.
I finally stopped paying attention to these people when I finally realized that these were things I could not control. My perception of myself is more important to me that other people’s perceptions of me. Especially when it comes to my sexuality. I spent so long after coming out worried that people would get sick of me if I didn’t act a certain way and perhaps came off as “too gay.”
The fact is that gay people have a long history and a strong culture with a lot of diversity within itself. And just like other cultures we experience life in a different way than others do, and that is something to be celebrated, not suppressed.
From a gay perspective it seems that this homophobic mentality has divided us into two factions, tolerable and intolerable. The sad truth is that to many, to be a tolerable gay means you have to essentially live a heterosexual lifestyle everywhere except for in the bedroom.
These preconceived notions of how homosexual individuals should act, are ideals that our society needs to leave behind in the dust. The fight for equality does not mean we all need to be the same, it means that we need to learn that despite our differences, we need to treat our fellow human beings with respect.
