We don’t march in Pride and we probably never will. (After-parties only, please.) We don’t torture ourselves to fit in with other gays. In fact, most of us have come to resent the stereotypes and the ideals associated with preceding gay generations. It’s not that we hate gay culture; we just don’t have that much in common with it anymore.Paul's view on being a new gay. Honestly, I think he's dreaming and hasn't woke up yet.
To be a twentysomething gay man in Toronto in 2011 is to be free from persecution and social pressures to conform. It’s also, in most ways, not about being gay at all.
And herein lies the central question for the post-mo: Is there even a gay struggle to be had anymore? On the one hand, over the past decade, the process of assimilation has accelerated faster than anyone probably believed it could. In urban Canada, and in other lucky parts of the world, we embrace gay politicians, TV personalities and performers. When we find out a public figure is gay—Ricky Martin, Lance Bass, Neil Patrick Harris—it’s now a cause for celebration, like, “Hey, you did it!”
So no, the struggle is clearly not what it was. It’s something different. Of course, the fight for equality will never fully be over. But for my generation, the big question has shifted from the right to be gay to the struggle over the right way to be gay. Within the community, we battle each other over questions like, How gay is too gay? How masculine is masculine enough? Are we really expected to get married just because we can?
Some think the post-mo generation is ungrateful for guys like Wittman and insensitive to the struggles that allowed us the freedoms we enjoy today. Not so. The goal is to live with those freedoms as they were intended, not to live plagued with the pressures to be here and be queer. The fact is, we have everything our predecessors always wanted, so why has the community never seemed more at odds with itself?
Please read this 'interesting' article.
P.S. being a hipster is not being a 'New Gay'. That's following a tired trend.
2 comments:
I'm a late 40-something year old who has always believed that we need to get over the idea that if you don't attend Pride you're a bad fag. So...I agree with much of the article.
Agree with Behrmark... though I'm not a 40-something & most certainly don't have the wardrobe to a hipster. The public perception of the male gay community has become an echo chamber of what the trendy boys are. And sadly, the female gay community has the public perception similar to the depiction Showtime's The Real L Word.
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