I'd never be put in charge of gay rights...
But I once worked on a project wherein I learned a great deal about teen suicide, how 7 out of 10 (back then--early 90s) were about orientation. So I suppose I'd put the focus on reaching those kids, sooner rather than later, making those 7 lives more critical than marriage or just about anything.
My feeling? We don't (just) need celebrity gay role models, we need doctors, lawyers, Indian Chiefs--waiters, hairdressers, construction workers, real-life Village People-- who'll be availale in the lives of kids who need the ulimate mentoring. The problem is, to many in our society, mentoring means sticking your hands in the pants of those same teens. So I believe we need an arena for teens to be helped by sucessful gay members of any community, without the taint of perceived sexual "recruitment."
Can gay revolution in our culture be modelled on the civil rights or feminist movements? It seems impossible, since to be black or a woman is apparent. But anyone here with kids knows: the worst thing you can call another kid these days is "gay." It's the one pejorative that is still widely allowed. So in an ideal world, gay teens should be allowed to self-identify. I think, they need gay adults to be part of their world, initially as protectors, if need be, then talk-tos, informal therapist. In a perfect world, gay teachers, for instance, once self-identified, could be a helluva influence. I hope that happens more in my lifetime.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Updated On: 2/9/06 at 11:30 AM
