I'm having one of those moments when you realise that life is too short to hold yourself back, I have to say I normally get these moments after some sort of emotional drain and this time is no exception. Luckily not a major emotional drain as it is in fact a result of watching the film 'Milk', if you have not seen it a brief summary is that it follows the gay rights rallies during the 1970s and more specifically the career of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to be elected into public office. Whilst being emotional and saddening, it was very inspiring and hopeful for those of us who know how difficult life can be when swimming against the tide.
I had a similar reaction when I first read about the stonewall riots, for some reason the strength of our community is underestimated and extremely strong when challenged. It is something that no doubt most heterosexual people will not fully realise or understand that we are a very close community, we are each others family, strengthened by our shared way of life, discrimination and experiences. I am never more comfortable than when I am in all gay company, there is no way to describe it, if you are not in a minority I imagine this does not make too much sense. There are no barriers, we are ourselves, surrounded by people who know exactly what it feels like to be you. There is a closeness that is unrivalled in any other area of life, no matter what is going on we can sit together, relax, enjoy ourselves, wrap our arms around each other and suddenly you are home.
Of course I am not remotely meaning to belittle any other minorities closeness, I know there are many similarities between us all, however unlike things such as race or skin colour sexuality is something that many people have never been able to understand, I realise that we live in such a tolerant society now in comparison to years ago. I guess what I'm saying in a rather long winded way is that even though I will never meet them, from the bottom of my heart I want to thank all those who fought for us all, through those decades of bloody struggle and activism and to those brave people who have and always will always fight for the simple rights for us to love who we love. For all our brothers and sisters that lost their lives fighting for our community such as Harvey Milk and for people whose unnecessary victimisation has helped forward our legislation such as dear Matthew Shepard whose murder saw the laws change on sexuality based hate crimes.
I could go on forever, but I wont. I'm missing my gay friends right now, I've been so busy and my life has been all over the place for months now that I have not had much free time. Eventually I will manage to get my life back on track and It can be hopefully a lot more fulfilled, but for now this particular post was a reflection on my community and my ever lasting loyalty to it.
_Saturn
