Staying Positive

The gay community have really had it hard. Being treated differently to the rest of society, not being recognised or accepted, continual humiliation and insult and not to mention the constant stereotyping. So sometimes it can just get a little hard and tough to keep positive...

For a group of individuals who are still trying to define themselves and find a place in general community, the support they show for one another at times can be varying. With great pride they raise the flag and show their compassion at Mardi Gras. But once the flag has been lowered and the outfits packed away you are able to see what the real community resembles and sometimes it is great but other times you can see there are people who are still dealing with the affects of the disrespect experienced living as a gay or lesbian in the greater community.

As a gay man there sure have been times where it has been tough, really tough. I was bullied at high school for being gay, I have been the victim of homophobic attacks in the street, I have heard negative stereotyping of gays and lesbians by individuals, experienced total disrespect in the workplace for being gay and even received negative opinion from friends and family. But I still keep positive that I can make a difference.

For some people I can see why this would become too much. Having to continually fight against what is wrong and hope that eventually it should get better, it all can become a little hard to believe. After such a hard and continual struggle some individuals do start to take a stance of self preservation and try to distance themselves from the general gay community, as they don't want to be seen as any of the negative stereotypes, myself included. For a while I didn't want to be seen as a member of the gay community as I too thought it was a bunch of dirty perverts as that was the stereotype. Fine I don't see myself as a dirty pervert and being gay definitely doesn't mean I am, but I am a gay man who does want to be treated equally. So by aligning myself with the gay community I can hopefully achieve the equal rights that I deserve. 

Stereotyping is really quite hard for the gay community as you are having to breakdown perceived barrier. For me I definitely stereotype and as a gay man it is rather strange that I do so seeing that I have to continually fight against the stereotypes that are placed on me.

Sometimes it can just get all too hard and you want to curl up into a ball and wish things could be different. Why was I born gay? Why am I not treated equally as everyone else? Why do I have to continually stand up for myself? But at the end of the day these things do not really get me down. It just bothers me from time to time that things are different but I do believe that with times things will change and for the better. For the time being what I do is to stay positive and hope that things would eventually get better.