what being gay looks like

[rm]

via reannon:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12811907
A gay couple faces police action for kissing in public in Salt Lake City.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_12790543
A gay couple is kicked out of a restaurant in El Paso, also for kissing.


I keep trying to formulate a sentence to go here, but I don't really have the time. But this is what being gay looks like when it's not on your television, when it's not in New York City or San Francisco or what is truly not that much more than a handful of cities, when you're not in a neighborhood where it's safe to be queer, when you're totally average and when you're living in America.

Comments

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

Sigh.

Ever since seeing the movie Little Ashes, I've wondered if Garcia Lorca would have lived longer if being queer was more accepted in his time -- or if he was doomed because of his political leanings.

At one point in my life, I found gay couples kissing awkward for me, but I've long since gotten past that. I personally like seeing folks kiss and be affectionate as long as it's not too over the top.

[isil-helyanwe.livejournal.com]

Re: Little Ashes (a stunner of a film, by the way) - I suspect that his sexuality, being relatively well known, may have made him more of a target for Franco's forces, but in the end his politics killed him. (Then again, perhaps his politics and view of dismissing the establishment may have been moulded by his experience as an outsider and reconciling himself with his sexuality - just a thought).

On topic again: it's so scary how backward some people can be... Especially when you live in metropolitan areas and sort of assume that everyone's as liberal as you are.

[dsmoen.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting thought, thank you.

I think I'll use my Lorca pen to write with today.

And yes, it is very scary how backward people can be. When I was in high school, my best friend (now dead from AIDS) was gay, and I remember how much some things that were said and done wounded him, and how it shifted his life.