It’s a Gay, Gay Day!

I’m back.  Details of my absence will follow some time in the future.

Today in Gay

Today is National Coming Out Day!  National Coming Out Day is a day for those LGBT individuals who are ready to come out of the closet to be able to come out amid their peers and allies.  It is also a day for celebration and discussion of gay culture and issues.

In honour of today, I’m Reed Braden and I’m gay.  No, really, I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m really gay.  Oh wait… that was sarcasm?  You knew since I was seven years old?  Oh… fuck you, breeder.  Happy National Coming Out Day!

Of course, Sarah Palin will not recognise the significance of National Coming Out Day in her home state of Alaska, but that doesn’t shock anyone, does it?

Tomorrow is National Coming Out Day in the UK.

Yesterday, Connecticut’s Supreme Court legalised gay marriage in that state, making it the third state in the US to grant marriage license to same sex couples.  The other two states are California and Massachusetts, but the recent legalisation of gay marriage in California is hotly contested by many in the state and Proposition 8 on the state’s electoral ballot in November could eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.

Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard.  Matthew Shepard was a gay student who was tortured, tied to a fence and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming by two homophobic assailants.

Still, the homophobia rages.  In the comment sections on one news website in Wyoming (Honestly, the only news website I could find based out of Wyoming…), flame wars fill threads of comments that take up dozens of pages.  Comments like, “Shephard was a waste of life. case closed,” “I should not have to be forced to accept your values or morals. When you approach me don’t flirt, switch, speak in a high pitch voice [...] Act like you are part of the human race,” and “I don’t agree with the young man being beat to death but Gays have harmed and in many cases murdered young children . It’s just not a normal way of life being gay !” set the tone of ignorance and hate for the local political climate.  In ten years, it doesn’t seem like much has changed.

Matthew’s mother, Judy, now heads up the Matthew Shepard Foundation.  Read her article Ten Years of Change – No Progress on the foundation’s homepage.

It seems that for every celebration, political win or day of remembrance that the gay community finally gains after much fighting, the Christians have to piss all over it, no matter how much it doesn’t affect them.  That just means my generation has its work cut out for them.