Coming Out Quietly

really

what about all the where have all the men gone threads for starters

I just read this. Spare me the feeble straw men. I didn't say that you had written that i must think your way. I haven't said that i don't think there is a social stigma, in some peoples' minds, attached to being homosexual.

None of that is relevant. Leaving aside that until recently, there has been a social stigm about being left-handed (and left hand is still used in locutions in a disparaging manner), and leaving aside that there still is a social stigma and a good many uncomplimentary stereotypes about red heads--my point is that being left-handed, or a read head, or a homosexual is neither a vice nor an acomplishment. There is nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing to be proud of. Whether or not someone disparages or discriminates against someone for a natural condition over which they have no control is not relevant.

I can see no reason to be proud of being homosexual.

Well, if you compare the inverse...a hypothetical action of heteros demonstrating as a group their pride...there'd be a problem, right? Heteros aren't the disadvantaged group, to say the least; whereas gays have been in the past and still are being discriminated against. Lefthandeds aren't ...
redheads aren't (unless it's UK).

... and conversely I see no reason for gays to ashamed either. (I get it that you aren't saying they should be ashamed). And, even though you don't see homosexuality as a detriment, you do recognize there's a large vocal group with power in society that does. Historically, minorities who've been discriminated against by society have used various methods over the last 40-50 yrs to announce their group unity and pride.

As a group for the purpose of group support and unity, demonstrations some chest-beating, of the group's pride is understandable. Socially, at this time in society, many disadvantaged minority groups (Puerto-Rican day in NYC as an example) choose to use media and public to announce their pride in various ways.

As long is it peaceful I've no problem. What harm is there in a minority group announcing self pride?

I am announcing my pride at being a lame punster. Hopefully my permit for which I applied for a parade in downtown Sarasota will be allowed. No one seems to take my cause seriously.

I would consider it just as ridiculous for heterosexuals to be "proud" of that as i do with homosexuals. Whether or not one can allege that any particular group is disadvantaged is simply not relevant. That any group says that they are proud of being what their birth--an event over which they had no control--has made them is a non sequitur. It's not as though being homosexual is an accomplishment. It's not as though a homosexual has to work hard all his or her life to become a homosexual. Being proud of an accomplishment is reasonable. Being proud of an immutable condition is meaningless.

You can make as many silly analogies as you please--they are not, in fact analogous; unless, of course, you're alleging that people are born to be lame punsters. If you did allege that, it would still not be an accomplishment.

I think the main idea is that pride is the opposite of shame.

Gay people -- along with black people, disabled people, and many other groups -- have historically been made to feel shame for what they are.

Taking pride in who you are, instead, is a way of refusing to be shamed.

Far better than I did, ....what she said/wrote.

I don't understand why people make their sexual identity the most part of their self identity?
Sexual orientation/ identity is sexual orientation/ identity to me, nothing more than a very small piece of the puzzle that is you.
My sexuality does not define who I am, I define who I am.

If people should not be ashamed of their native traits, then there is no reason for them to be proud of them. I felt the same way about the black pride campaign of the 1970s.

In my opinion, the opposite of "shame" is "not to be ashamed" not "pride." To explain, if people were once ashamed to be illiterate, the opposite of that would be to accept the fact that they are illiterate, for one reason or another, not proud to be illiterate.

I feel ashamed every time I go out in public with Anthony, especially after the weirdo gets a new hairdo.

That little bitch took those from my Facebook page

it's like people saying they're Italian-American, Afro-Canadian, Irish-American, whatever. Who cares? why do people carry on about where their parents/grandparents came from? I understand acknowledging it, but really, who cares? Having grandparents from a particular village is not an accomplishment.

Eggs-acktly . . .

In some instances, it might be to give credence to the reality that we really do not all live in the same reality, even though we may all live in the same country. Sort of like saying one is Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, etc.

In effect, it might not be based on pride per se, but reality per se, so others know we are cognizant of differences, and not naive and think we have reached the European identity of being one homogeneous society?

In 500 - 1,000 years you might then be completely correct in your thoughts?

none of those things are accomplishments either

or Andoran Faroese

uhhh, Was the car totalled?

The car didn’t get a scratch on it. I think Anthony’s head protected the vehicle.

Being raised in a watered down version of Judaism, and using American WASPs as my role model, I would think it would be a personal accomplishment if in my next life I came back as an Episcopalean.