The over use of OUT amongst the gays
Today the Good Doc and I are off to this gay and lesbian fundraiser for the Kerry-Edwards ticket in the People's Republic of Berkeley. Now this fundraiser is cheaper at $250.00 a ticket than that last one we went to, but I have an unpleasant feeling that it's going to turn into one of those PC love fests that I hate so much. Tom Ammiano is going to get on stage, with his nasal, queeny voice and prance around screeching about some strange, marginal issue like calling pets "animal companions" or supporting the rights of native American transgendered, two-spirited people to open their own casinos. Sometimes I wonder why a person must go to these things.
The event is called "Out Front for Kerry" and that got me thinking. Why is the word "out" used so frequently amongst homos? Out Magazine, Out and Proud, Out of the Closet... and the list goes on. I came "out" when I was 18 and most of the homos that I know who are younger than me came out even younger. It seems my generation (and I'm 33) was the last to "play it straight" and the ones to follow are increasingly comfortable with being "out." That being said, will "coming out" lose its power amongst the gays?
I can think of a lot more words that are more powerful to me than "out." I'll leave them to your imagination but this continual use of "out" to signify gayness is grating on my nerves a bit these days. Take this fundraiser for example. "Out Front for Kerry" seems to indicate that homos are "out" for Kerry but that's a bit redundant because if myself and my boyfriend are attending a $250.00 a person fundraiser for John Kerry along with several thousand other sodomites and lezzies, and shitloads of gay politicians as well as the media isn't it a given that we're "out" for Kerry? Would someone "in" contribute money for a gay and lesbian fundraiser?
Most of the people in charge of these sorts of events are the old guard of the gay movement, they're in their 40's and 50's and they've been around for it all, so coming out is still a big deal to them. But if you're younger, and have never been "in" whom do you have to come out to? It's sorta like the whole "top and bottom" argument that seemed in vogue in the 70's. Are you a top or a bottom? Well, I thought the whole point was that you could be both!
The tendency toward catergorizing homos and celebrating "outness" is an outgrowth of the PC, leftist culture that has dominated gay thinking since the early 70's. It classifies gay people as "separate" and then further catergorizes them as "Leather-identified", "Transsexual", "Dyke", "Queer" and on and on. It's an old style of thinking that seems to indicate that everyone's feelings need to be validated, because if you're not making everyone happy then something is wrong with the picture. It leads to endless, pointless debates on issues like whether male-to-female transsexuals should be allowed into all "wimmin" music festivals. Who gives a shit? Aren't there other, more important issues to be concerned about, like the rapid increase in HIV and other STD infections amongst gay men and the glamorization of HIV amongst younger gay men?
1:02:00 PM 
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