An Agenda

I don't normally get too involved in the gay question perhaps because for me it is no longer a question. I am a man who has been actively "gay" since I was a teenager and "out" since I was in my early twenties. I have never been in the habit of making any bones about who or what I am.

I have been in a relationship with the same man for 33 years - many of the people around us have had two or three legal spouses in that same time frame - and later this month we will have been married for three years. I have been lucky in that I have not often run into "homophobia" amongst colleagues - oh of course there have been comments behind my back but "sticks and stones". I have been the target of one gay bashing many years ago and when I stop to think about it some workplace discrimination back in the late 70s. But I believe in many ways I've been very lucky. I have been in workplaces and communities where tolerance and understanding have been the watchwords and I live in a country which recognizes that my relationship is as valid as any other.

I was happy to see that Argentina has been added to the list of countries that have come to the same recognition. And, as always, I was intrigued by the comments on the CBC website news posting. Many were supportive and joyful while other took a decidedly opposite stand. Of course the matter of the "gay agenda" came up - as it always does. And I was delighted to see this reply from a woman in Ottawa who styles herself "Thinking Mother".

I'm gay and I do have an agenda. For all you out there who are so paranoid about the big gay agenda, here is what it is...

My agenda is to foster a compassionate and tolerant society where all people are free from oppression.

My agenda is to teach my children to judge people only on how they treat other people.

My agenda is to be able to behave in public the same way I behaved when I was in a heterosexual relationship - which means occasionally holding hands and not feeling too self-conscious about a small appropriate display of affection now and then.

My agenda is to be able to answer a co-worker's friendly question about my weekend without avoiding saying "we" or "she" or otherwise indicating that whatever I did was with my female partner.

My agenda is not to be hated simply because I fell in love with a wonderful woman who makes me and my children very happy.

It sounds like a reasonable agenda to me! And many thanks to Thinking Mother for putting it forth. I move that we accept the agenda. Do we have any seconders?

15 luglio

Euorpe Is SOOOOOO Different!

I know this has been making the rounds but why do I have a feeling that we'll never see this commercial in North America? And I'm included Canada in that one.

French McDonalds commercial - "Come As You Are" @ Yahoo! Video

4 giugno - San Francesco Caracciolo

He's Free!

John Inman died last week at the age of 71. He was at the end of an era that allowed us to find stereotypes funny. He and others like him – Kenneth (I’ve come all over queer!) Williams et al – were not politically correct by today’s standards but damn it they made us laugh! So did Mrs Slocum, Captain Peacock and the rest of the pc-challenged caricatures on Are You Being Served. (And there are some very funny episodes at YouTube.com.)

Days after Mr. Inman’s death self-appointed spokespeople (that is the pc word I believe) for various gay groups were pontificating about the negative image of gay men Inman or rather his Mr Humphries gave the world. In today’s Times of London, Matthew Parris takes on these groups of humourless activists and reminds them that it was men like Inman that help them say “I’m free!”