FAFO gets very real for my wife's trump-loving niece

[Random Boomer]

108. Too many gay people don't connect the dots

Looking back over my life (70 years), being gay is one of the best things that happened to me. Membership in a despised minority rattled my brain, it helped me make connections between topics of racism, classism, and sexism. I'm a better person for it, because otherwise I'd be a less aware person; I was raised in a conservative state (Texas) and by nature am inclined to trust authority. All my cynicism and skepticism has its roots in being gay and knowing first-hand the disconnect between what is said about me by the majority culture and my own lived experience.

As a young adult, I was surprised to find that there were so many gay people who didn't make that same journey. Whereas being gay transformed my life and changed its trajectory, they continue along the exact same path as all the other straight people around them, only with one twist. It's why queer kids commit suicide: they can't envision themselves being different from their family and friends, much less deriving joy from that difference. Terminal conformity.