The LJ surprise

It happens periodically - someone who's been on my FL for a while will post something that is almost aggressive in its being so indicative of someone I DO NOT want to spend time with. It just happened again, this time it was the sadly-not-uncommon theme of "I am oppressed by gay culture but am superior to it" with all the attendant strawmen, stereotypes, and lack of self-awareness. And of course it brings out the other disaffected gays who are still stewing in their disappointment that once they came out it turns out that no one wanted to throw them a parade (oh right, parades are disgusting displays that make it difficult for them to come out because straight people assume they're like the people they see in little gold jockstraps and totally revealing leather, and they *care* a lot that no one think that.) Oh, but this isn't about internalized homophobia or anything. This is about being superior.

Back in the Usenet soc.motss days people would periodically crop up with the same rant and it was notable for how rote it was and how transparent the arguments were, and instead of just delisting the person I made the mistake of trying to point some things out but the conclusions are so strongly held that there's no arguing with the fallacious logic that leads to them.

Ah well, surprise, surprise. Now I need to go add some reasonable and thoughtful to my FL to balance it out.

I am not jumping on the bandwagon

I have _always_ believed that the mormon church was worthy of ridicule, that the massive fucktardery of their beliefs (oops, lost those golden things but I remember what they said!) made anyone who followed them sort of scary. So it bothers me not to see anger focussed on them.

The scientologists are worse but it's not really a competition.

Bumpy

It seems like The Conflict Storm on LJ is coming to my part of it so I am going to not post anything but trifling ephemera today.

The alignment of cold weather and a street fair in front of my building brings the joy that is 3 for $10 "pashmina" scarves in fabulous colors and patterns, perfect for dressing up the drab Nyc winter uniform of grey and black outerwear. A couple of yesterdays haul ($20 is so little to pay for so much beauty) mention silk; they are all as soft and warm as they are lovely.

The protest

We went.





I don't want to take anything away from what this was, or represented, or the people who came out and the people who are putting their effort into using this momentum for making things better.

It made me sad, mostly because it took me back 20 years when it was easy to get angry and strong because we were so fucking scared because everyone was dying. We were literally fighting for our lives. I haven't been taken back to that time so strongly in a long, long time. It wasn't big drama but once we started moving down Broadway it was time for me to leave. There were too many ghosts.

What I hope for is that the peak of the goodwill that is/will be coming from the Obama supporters peaks right when the Ca. Supreme Court overturns Prop 8, so that what is left is the shrill voices of the christianists bleating about how their rights to oppress others have been taken away, but everyone else will get that you don't let the haters vote on who should be oppressed.

It is really amazing how far we've come in a relatively short period of time. I am incredibly thankful for the people who've done more than just show up, who've made it their life's work to make gay people's lives better. I don't think that I should feel bad that right now, showing up is probably about all I'm emotionally capable of.