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Imagine being gay. The assumption is that you're straight, you'd have to correct that assumption among your friends and family. Knowing that some people are uncomfortable with it, I'd say it isn't easy at all to come out as gay. Your family....people you need...they could just reject you because of it...can you imagine living in fear that your family my reject you one day? Especially an angst riddled teenager? That'd be awful.
So other gay people come out publicly because they know how it feels to be that guy afraid of what might happen if he does so. Just as a way of providing social support.
I understand it...I guess.
And whatever. But if my sons are gay who will continue may family's name?
But how can you not love your son regardless? That's why I can't hate...I don't understand why...( the only reason I stick around on this planet is to make a family...my own flesh and blood), but I know if my son told me he was gay..I mean what could I do? He's my son..
Let's suppose that what you say is true about the coming out part. How can you explain the "pride" movement? Why do gay people believe they are above having a little humility?
Sure there is. Proclaim you're a poor put upon Christian struggling in a godless entertainment industry to maintain your faith and facing discrimination from same, and watch the religious folks put you on a pedestal and write tomes praising your name. Literally overnight you'll be the next big "thing" on the Christian Industrial Complex circuit.
This would be based in fact though.
Simply by coming out one will have praise heaped upon them. Conversely if one doesn't have the highest praise for gays they are persecuted and ruined; ask Alec Baldwin.
To set the record straight, I am elderly, and I am gay.
No trolling here.
When I was a teenager, my mom asked if I were "a Que.r"
Back then the word gay was not in use.
I told her yes, and never had to go any further to explain it.
I grew up in a small town in New England, where being "que.r" was something one never talked about.
It wasn't until much later, after I moved, that I acquired gay friends.
In my entire life, I have never openly flaunted my sexuality.
I never felt the need too, which is why to this day I don't understand why gay people have this need to "go public".
Who's business is it what one person feels?
Why the need to know?
Other than my mom, way back then, not one person has ever questioned my sexuality, not one.
I don't ever feel I need to hide it from the rest of the world, but too, I don't need to flaunt it either.
When I moved to Los Angeles in 1970,making friends, straight and gay was pretty simple.
The lure of the gay bars, and for that matter, the gay lifestyle did not appeal to me, and when asked to attend the very first gay pride parade in Hollywood, I was very disgusted at the spectacle.
Marching down Hollywood Blvd, all these guys wearing very little, (jock straps, thongs etc) absolutely disgusted me.
I couldn't then, and I still don't understand the reason gays have to make such a spectacle of themselves.
I lived my many years not hiding from anyone, nor flaunting myself in front of the world.
I am not ashamed of being gay, nor should I be.
I just never saw the need to try and capitalize on it, of make it a "must know" type of thing, which is why I asked the original question.
Who gives a rat's a$$ if someone is different than someone else.
Just because one is a little different from someone else, does that mean they have to constantly show their differences?
Kobe Bryant gets it right and explains the significance when a celebrity comes out.
"It's fantastic. It sets an incredible precedent," said Bryant, who is currently out of the Lakers' lineup indefinitely with a knee injury. "I think the most important part about it, what I've learned on the issue is that one person coming out is showing this type of courage that gives others that same type of courage.
"It's dealing with a lot of issues for kids who are afraid to be themselves. Afraid to be themselves because of the peer pressure that comes with it. A lot of these kids have depression issues or they're being teased from other kids for being different. You wind up seeing a lot of suicides, kids injuring themselves and getting hooked on things that they should not be hooked on."
On the impact of Collins' first game, Bryant said: "There is a kid out there who … is going to say, 'Jason gave me strength in dark moments to be brave. He gave me courage to step up and accept myself for who I am despite what others might be saying or the public pressures. He gave me strength and bravery to be myself.'"
Kobe Bryant gets it right and explains the significance when a celebrity comes out.
"It's fantastic. It sets an incredible precedent," said Bryant, who is currently out of the Lakers' lineup indefinitely with a knee injury. "I think the most important part about it, what I've learned on the issue is that one person coming out is showing this type of courage that gives others that same type of courage.
"It's dealing with a lot of issues for kids who are afraid to be themselves. Afraid to be themselves because of the peer pressure that comes with it. A lot of these kids have depression issues or they're being teased from other kids for being different. You wind up seeing a lot of suicides, kids injuring themselves and getting hooked on things that they should not be hooked on."
On the impact of Collins' first game, Bryant said: "There is a kid out there who … is going to say, 'Jason gave me strength in dark moments to be brave. He gave me courage to step up and accept myself for who I am despite what others might be saying or the public pressures. He gave me strength and bravery to be myself.'"
What a pandering load of crap coming from a rapist who escaped culpability only by merit of how much money he could throw at his victim. And his opinion is worthy of note why? Because he's a thug who can throw a ball through a hoop?
Can anyone explain why we are soooo worried about "feelings"? Whatever happened to the notion of self-identity and a sense of self-worth coming from within? We've become a culture of sissies (in this thread that is quite literal), whining about perceived (or real) inadequacies and depending on the praise and approval of others as a source of validation.
I don't think it's so much the individual, but mostly the media. I don't think people should make a big deal about it, who cares? I don't.
I am tired of hearing about ''gay this and gay that'' all the time though, the liberal media and Hollywood is being really pushy about it and it's starting to get annoying IMO. I think people in Hollywood '' come out''because it's a career booster among them. It's a fast easy way to get promoted and act in movies, any liberal stance helps.
But like I said before, I don't think people should care or pay attention to it. I know gay people too, it's not my business.
I don't think it's so much the individual, but mostly the media. I don't think people should make a big deal about it, who cares? I don't.
I am tired of hearing about ''gay this and gay that'' all the time though, the liberal media and Hollywood is being really pushy about it and it's starting to get annoying IMO. I think people in Hollywood '' come out''because it's a career booster among them. It's a fast easy way to get promoted and act in movies, any liberal stance helps.
But like I said before, I don't think people should care or pay attention to it. I know gay people too, it's not my business.
Oh yeah. You're right.
The "who is gay, who is not gay" rumor mill thrives because it's just so much EASIER to be gay in Hollywood, instead of straight.
In fact, agents tell gay actors, "go ahead and flaunt your life, it will INCREASE your job prospects!"
What WORLD do you people live in? You write things that are EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what people in Hollywood say (how they DO NOT come out, because they FEAR loss of job prospects!). Yet I suppose if you repeat something over and over and over it becomes truth to you guys or something.
Frankly I am kind of surprised about the OP's post if he is gay- unless he spends very little time around straight people. Gay and lesbian people continually make the choice whether to 'come out' or hide who they are throughout their whole lives - every time they meet a new person and that person asks if they have a girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/family etc. Straight people mention their significant others in conversation all the time without even thinking about it. "My wife and I took a trip to the coast." "My boyfriend Tom is an engineer and said...." etc.
The difference for a gay or lesbian person is that they often have to pause and ask themselves what the consequences might be if they just mention their partner's name or use 'he' or 'she'.
Think about what that might be like.
This^
Coming out will be a never ending process until admitting to being attracted to the same-sex or being in a same-sex relationship makes no one bat an eye anymore than a straight guy talking about his wife.
Anti-gays don't get the psychology behind the so called "coming out" process. For public figures, it's a bigger deal due to risk to their careers and their potential influence.
Simply by coming out one will have praise heaped upon them. Conversely if one doesn't have the highest praise for gays they are persecuted and ruined; ask Alec Baldwin.
I don't think Alec Baldwin is actually anti-gay. He did have a recurring role on Will & Grace a decade ago.
I think the media simply blows it out of proportion. Folks are tired of hearing about it.........nobody cares anymore. Everybody knows somebody who is gay or has worked with a homo or what have you. Hell my half sister is gay. Folks don't need these "coming out" parties anymore. The media does and the democrats do though.
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