By Miriam B. Medina Here we sit on the verge of 2011 in modern day America. Nearly 11 years after the World was supposed to shut down because of Y2k (whoops, bit of a mistake on that one). Over 32 years after Neil Armstrong took that small step for a man that might still be the largest step mankind has ever taken. Over 233 years since the forefathers declared this great land a free nation. Yet we still have a problem figuring out how gay people should be treated in the military. Many homosexuals still feel they are forced to hide their true nature for fear of ridicule, of losing their job or of being treated unfairly. Perhaps it's time we took another big step in the history of mankind. Perhaps it's time we put the issue of gay rights to rest, once and for all. What is all the fuss about, anyway? How a person chooses to live? Where do we as a nation draw the line over what we regulate in private people's lives? How is it one person can find something offensive, or a small group of people, and they get to decide what everyone else can or cannot do? I, for one, loathe liver and onions. I know many who feel the same way. Perhaps we should start a coalition to ban the sale of beef liver. The stuff stinks. I mean, it smells really bad and I don't like it so, though it might be good for someone else and though it doesn't hurt me, it needs to be stopped. Yes, yes, yes. I'll go on talk shows and talk about how bad it is for the cows. I'll work to have beef liver removed from restaurants and supermarkets. Some will complain. Probably a lot of middle aged and elderly people, I doubt many youngsters will complain (though the pro liver and onions society will find a token youth to claim they like liver and onions, but I'm sure I can find enough liver hating youngsters to berate the nerd and make his life miserable so he has to hide his disgusting yearnings). Yes indeed, I can see it now. In the end, I won't be able to eliminate the disgusting, stomach turning entree, but I can harass enough people and cause enough fuss to make people hide when they indulge in the mud colored beef product. We'll end up settling on the matter, probably through an arbitrator. They can eat their grubby looking, foul smelling dish in secret but not in public so I don't have to smell it or think that it even exists. Sounds quite silly doesn't it? How did we get here? Why is America still treating the issue of gay rights like it's the red headed step child of culture? How, in this day and age, an era more diverse than ever before, is bias and bigotry still so alive and well when it comes to the gay community? If we go back about a hundred years and trace the history of gay rights and the gay movement to find equality, perhaps we will find some answers so that we can figure this problem out once and for all, for the culture of gays forming “societies” so they could relax, away from public ridicule and scorn, really first came about on a wide scale in the early 20th century.. To be continued: Hello World: Gay Pride vs The Closet (2) To contact: miriammedina@earthlink.net or miriam@thehistorybox.com .
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