For years I have
heard, "If only they wouldn't throw it in our face. Why can't they (gay
people) keep their (gay people) sex life in the closet?" I have blogged about how for 70+ years I
have had the heterosexual sex life thrown in my face so this is not that
blog. This blog is about, to a point, why gay
people have to keep throwing their sex life in the face of nongay people.

This past weekend there was a documentary on
cable called "The Word Is Out" which dealt with 26 gay people--as
different from each other as they can/could be--talking about their
lives which was a very brave thing to do as this film was MADE IN
1978!!! It is a fascinating film and I suggest you get it on DVD and
watch it. As much as I enjoyed watching it and admiring the brave people
on camera I was very saddened that this same exact documentary could be
filmed today with very few changes. How far have we come?

How far have we
come since 1978? Gay people are still being bashed and killed, verbally
attacked and shown disdain, even by bloggers.
Gay people are still being kicked out of the service and fired from
jobs. Yes there have been laws in some cities protecting the latter but
they can be shunted aside. In just the past month hate crimes are
at much higher levels than they were in 1978. How far have we come?

Recently a few famous people came out of the
closet and yet, just today, Joan Rivers tells young gay people to stay
in the closet or they won't work. For every Neil Patrick Harris, Sean
Hayes or Ricky Martin who come out of the closet (when they have money
and success) there are famous names who stay in the closet and younger
ones afraid to come out. How far have we come?

When "Brokeback Mountain" came out
(pardon the pun) you would have thought it was the second coming. When a
nongay actor, Sean Penn,
plays a gay man, Harvey Milk, on the big screen it's news but let a gay
man play a nongay man it is a
big secret. Yes we have had 'hits' like "Boys Don't Cry" and "Monster"
but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of nongay films that have been shown
in the same time span. Oh, by the way, do I have to mention one of the
gay men die in the first movie, in "Milk" he is assassinated and in
"Boys" and "Monster" the lesbians die--just like all gays had to die in
movies, and books, of the past. How far have we come?

On TV we had 2
men being gay leads and that was on "Will And Grace". How many times did
it show Will and/or Jack making love to, kissing and/or having sex with
another man? Oh yes we had "Queer As Folks" and "The L Word"  but that
was on cable as we all know regular network watchers wouldn't be able
handle such things as they aren't adults, right? How far have we come?

I can home foster
as many kids as I want for as long as I want but in Florida I can't
adopt a child. In other States partners can have children by surrogate
but only one of the partners would be a legal parent naturally while the
other would have have to adopt. Oh I can get 'married' in a few States
but that doesn't give me the 1000+ tax benefits nongay couples get when they get
married. How far have we come?

I keep on hearing
how Gay people want special, not equal, rights. I guess wanting to
inherit what we have made, built with our partners over the years is
wanting special rights. I suppose wanting to make medical decisions for
our partners or owning the house, the car and the valuables without
having to go to lawyers is wanting special rights. Oh yes, let's not
forget hate crimes--that's a special right we want, right? When someone
bashes you, pulls a knife on you and calls you "Faggot" or "Queer" and
are not after your money it isn't a hate crime, it should just be
treated like any other bashing, right? And when a guy says he killed
another guy because he came  on to him we should dismiss charges against
him, right? How far have we come?

Yes gay people are more visible and yes more
people are aware of gays within their own family and maybe, just maybe,
younger people don't care if someone is gay or not--at least that is
what I have heard--yet they still say, "That's so gay" as an insult and
kids are still bashing kids they think are gay and adults are still
teaching their kids that gay equals bad, negative. Let's not forget all
the kids, and there are many, being thrown out on the streets when their
parents find out they are gay. How far have we come?

I am an old man--yes 74 is old--but I will
keep on throwing my sex life in your face and I will keep on fighting
for Equal, not Special, Rights and I will keep on posting blogs about
gay sex, gay people, gays news and everything gay so that gay teenagers
of today will know how far we have come and won't have to ask, as I am
in 2010, how far have we come?