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JohnKohlepp — Count me OUT
Published: 2010-10-09 08:01:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 454; Favourites: 10; Downloads: 6
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Description
Hello Folks!My name is John and I am gay. Cuddles the Cockatiel is questioning or bi-curious as far as I can tell.
I am participating in Count me Out - A Grassroots National Coming out Day 2010.
For more info, please visit 's journal here: [link]
The official start date is October 11th, but it is never too early to show your support for the LGBT community, or to let people know who you are and what you believe in.
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Comments: 6
Wow, I'd never have guessed 
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Nice one! 
One thing however occurs to me... today, most normal, reasonably intelligent straight people see gays all around them, work with them etc and, when they discover that gays act just like anyone else, accept them. The haters will always want to hate, and schoolkids are always cruel and ignorant, but generally the problem these days which perpetuates prejudice is not that straights don't understand gays but that some gays don't understand straights or rather - get a kick out of shocking them.
When you turn on the TV and see some 'gay pride' parade with people behaving and dressing in a bizarre fashion that seems designed to make straight people uncomfortable then all the old prejudices and stereotypes just come leaping up and begging for attention like hungry dogs. For a straight person, particularly for men, gay sex is an unpleasant concept and it is probably always going to be that way however much exposure these counterproductive parades give to it. The concept makes me feel uncomfortable and I think this is perfectly normal - this is as natural a reaction as it is for someone else to find it attractive. No reason to hate anyone for thinking differently though, of course...
I know 'straight' sexuality is everywhere you look... but if one is in a minority then one can expect this - should Christmas be cancelled because 5% of the population follow a different religion? Trying to push gay sexuality in the faces of straight people is like going to a Harley Davidson rally and shouting at all the big bearded guys about how awesome your Nissan Micra is... acceptance isn't going to happen via that route.
If these 'extreme' gays stopped trying to be noticed as bizarre creatures who get a kick out of shocking 'boring' straight people then the stereotypes would slowly die away and acceptance would come a lot more quickly, as would safety and equal rights, and the rest of the gay world could just get on with being normal members of society who just happen to have a different sexual orientation.
I've had several gay friends, one was a real 'classic' limp-wristed petulant 'mincing queen',the other behaved like everyone else - but just mentioned he was gay and had a boyfriend on first meeting you. Guess who was easier to be around and saw more acceptance...?
...I expect I'm ignorant and prejudiced, right??
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I share your ambivalence about hyper-sexual displays being used as a core tenant of a community. I was shocked when I was young by the few predictable clips of gay bondage displays in the gay pride parades. I thought "That's not me!"
Actually, the straight BDSM community freaks me out as well. The few people I know in it seem so very proud that have certain sexual proclivities, love to talk about it, and have build communities and lives with that as the base. I guess that a straight person without knowing the full story could come to that conclusion about gay people as a whole.
Not to disparage the bondage community, but that is not an area that I've explored or experienced, so it strikes me as foreign and odd. The media loves to show differences rather than similarities in groups that they define as "other". When you look at western news coverage of the middle east, I bet you'll see more burkas and bombs than you will fathers picking up their kids from schools or earning a living in a place of business.
This Coming Out day scared me a lot when I read about it. I was to get a photo, "rainbow-ize" it, and put the work OUT on it! I like my quiet life, but I know that there are some people out there who are timid and ordinary like me who need to know that it's okay to be who they are.
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It definitely is okay! And good on you for spreading the word...
You are right about similarities and differences. Differences are far more 'interesting' to viewers... but similarities bring empathy and understanding
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