Mitch Bytes

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Bitch Bytes Barry Mitchell Gays, lesbians...think it's kind of like a black and white couple madly in love with each other in a restaurant circa 1980. They would have been whispered about, ridiculed, pointed at, maybe not even served. And today it's almost, underline almost, universally acceptable. Photo: Ordination of Gene Robinson as first openly gay Bishop- Nov 1st '03

Prior to 1955 they'd probably be shot if they were dining in Weeziana. Separate water fountains, hotels, buses.... God bless Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

So yeah, the whole gay thing is just getting to that societal processing point, acceptability phase if you will, followed closely in hand by the internalization of cultural values and mores into the so-called American establishment. Marriage, healthcare, life insurance issues scrutinized and modified as we speak.
Gay public school might be pushing it, but who am I to judge.

With all of the major crises we're faced with today, seems kind of silly we're consumed with what two consenting adults undertake in the bedroom. Doesn't it? And all the trivial gossip and innuendo that follows. Should that really matter in the big picture? Say you have the number one rated show on television, ya think people would stop watching cause you're gay? Or the most cutting edge column on the web. Readers would be so taken aback by the thought of what might go on behind Charlie Rich closed doors they could do without thought provoking commentary and observational humor for...ever.

Think it would be worse if you were gay and never said anything about it. Ashamed of being born differently, downtrodden by years of derogatory public sentiment, linkage of homosexual behavior with pedophilia in the same breath, not to mention well respected Senator Rick Santorum gay bashing, that you thought it best to stay in the coat closet and keep quiet.

Reminds me back in the day when I attended an all boys Catholic high school after 11 years of public education. Having no girls to look at was bad enough, but it wasn't easy matriculating as a Jew. Kids can be very cruel and vicious, then they grow up to be ignorant adults.

Made the football team and proved that Jewish people are in fact, normal. As the season progressed I became bold and wore my Star of David outside my shirt and all of a sudden 15 kids came out of the woodwork and said "Hey I'm Jewish, too". Not like I lit a Menorah, but the point is you should never be ashamed of your heritage and who you really are in life, no matter what the consequences.

Thinking FDR said it best, we're always leery or apprehensive of the unknown. From getting that new computer at work to trying sushi/tofu for the first time to meeting a stranger and 6 months later promising you'll spend eternity with them, that's the beauty of this wacky world. Ya just never know what will happen, tomorrow. Maybe it is time for homosexuality to settle down into the mainstream rather than be driven to the alternative outskirts of San Francisco, Key West, Provincetown. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but what's so bad about Omaha, Des Moines, Wichita, Little Rock...

© Barry Mitchell November 2003
junctures@yahoo.com

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