June is busting out all over. It’s the month of my people. I know we aren’t quite there yet, but it is time to prepare. Before this issue leaves the stands, we will be swimsuit deep into pool parties, GayDayS, One Magical Weekend and Girls in Wonderland with Polk County Pride and St. Pete Pride on the horizon.
Celebrate! Enjoy it!
June is also a big month for my family: birthdays, anniversaries, Father’s Day and such. My parents, not being gay, inevitably schedule some big family gathering during one of those big gay events listed above. After several Junes of trying to balance family parties and gay celebrations, I decided to tell my family they were “gay blocking” me and I’d catch up with them in July. Lately, I just incorporate my family in the gay fun. Last year, I took my straight brother to Riptide at Typhoon Lagoon. It was hilarious, because he kept saying under his breath, “Man, I need to work out more.”Maybe this year my roommate and I bring the moms? Can you imagine?
Although there is much to celebrate, this year seems different, or just difficult.
The nation is angry and the internet fuels what Jon Stewart calls Chaos on Bullshit Mountain. I used to believe that mountain was only occupied by Tea Partiers; but as if they felt left out of crazy-town, Democrats and Independents have taken up residency on the hillside.
Where does all this anger come from? Crap River. It flows from the top of Bullshit Mountain for all of us to bathe in. You can tell who takes a dip in Crap River when otherwise normal, intelligent people seem to have jumped the shark.
Here is how it works: A leading presidential candidate says he’d like to punch a protester in the face.Before you know it, people are punching protesters in the face. Leaders tell you the current state is dire and they have the plan to change it. They use words like socialist, millennials and establishment as if they are bad things. Some socialist programs are great. Not all millennials are lazy and entitled. Sometimes the establishment is the way it is because of decades of experience. There is a reason a political party has a closed primary. New York didn’t block 3 million independent people from voting. Rather, 3 million people didn’t register correctly so they could vote for their candidate. Lesson learned.
Politicians play into our fears, because that’s how the system works.They have to make you feel afraid and make you believe they are the only solution for your safety. We buy into it and take to Facebook like it’s the beaches of Normandy.
Decorum and respect have gone to the toilet. I just hope they were allowed to go to the bathroom they identify with.
The hottest hot-button item at the moment is North Carolina Law HB2, another example of fear floating down Crap River into the masses. Anti-LGBT politicians pass a law that undermines LGBT rights. Then groups like the Liberty Counsel support HB2 under the pretense of protecting women and children. They convince you that the law is not about transgender people, but about men saying they are transgender in order to gain access to women and children in the bathroom. Next, companies like Target react, saying they are inclusive of LGBT rights and will let individuals use the restrooms with which they identify. Seemingly intelligent people are now claiming Target is letting men into the women’s restroom. We now have citizens policing bathrooms and the Liberty Counsel president suggesting she will carry a gun into the bathroom. What could possibly go wrong with that?
The reality is that transgender people using the restrooms matching their identity is a non-issue. Opponents are creating a hypothetical problem to scare you, literally sending men into the women’s room to scare you. Who is the real problem here? If you are really afraid of your children and women being assaulted, then send them to the bathroom with someone else, or make it illegal for people to attack women and children. Right, that already is illegal. If your fight is with perverts, then fight the perverts. Let’s not degrade transgender people. They are not the perverts.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the negativity, in the anger. It’s easy to yell with a keyboard in a comment section.The difficult part is staying positive and embracing what is good rather than condemning what is bad.
So, celebrate this pride season. Celebrate the true meaning of a gay day at Disney. Celebrate pride in the spirit of those that rioted at Stonewall. Celebrate your youth, celebrate your wisdom and celebrate your body the way you want to celebrate. Celebrate with responsibility and respect for yourself and others. Cut through the crap and celebrate!
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