6/28/2015, 11:01 am
[img]/images/Gays_Back_to_Closet.jpg[/img]
Historic Day for Gays, but Twinge of Loss for an Outsider Culture (The New York Times)
“Gay is not enough anymore,” said John Waters in his commencement address at the Rhode Island School of Design in May. “Refuse to isolate yourself. Separatism is for losers.”
From Capitol Hill in Seattle to Dupont Circle in Washington, gay bars and nightclubs have turned into vitamin stores, frozen yogurt shops and memories. Some of those that remain are filled increasingly with straight patrons, while many former customers say their social lives now revolve around preschools and playgrounds.
Rainbow-hued “Just Be You” messages have been flashing across Chase A.T.M. screens in honor of Pride month, conveying acceptance but also corporate blandness. Directors, filmmakers and artists are talking about moving past themes of sexual orientation, which they say no longer generate as much dramatic energy.
The Supreme Court on Friday expanded same-sex marriage rights across the country, a crowning achievement but also a confounding challenge to a group that has often prided itself on being different. The more victories that accumulate for gay rights, the faster some gay institutions, rituals and markers are fading out. And so just as the gay marriage movement peaks, so does a debate about whether gay identity is dimming, overtaken by its own success.
That only means we must find a new spectacular victim group, put it up front as cannon fodder, use them as human shields in our unstoppable march towards progress, and discard them after they have fulfilled their historical mission as tools of the revolution.
Historic Day for Gays, but Twinge of Loss for an Outsider Culture (The New York Times)
From Capitol Hill in Seattle to Dupont Circle in Washington, gay bars and nightclubs have turned into vitamin stores, frozen yogurt shops and memories. Some of those that remain are filled increasingly with straight patrons, while many former customers say their social lives now revolve around preschools and playgrounds.
Rainbow-hued “Just Be You” messages have been flashing across Chase A.T.M. screens in honor of Pride month, conveying acceptance but also corporate blandness. Directors, filmmakers and artists are talking about moving past themes of sexual orientation, which they say no longer generate as much dramatic energy.
The Supreme Court on Friday expanded same-sex marriage rights across the country, a crowning achievement but also a confounding challenge to a group that has often prided itself on being different. The more victories that accumulate for gay rights, the faster some gay institutions, rituals and markers are fading out. And so just as the gay marriage movement peaks, so does a debate about whether gay identity is dimming, overtaken by its own success.
That only means we must find a new spectacular victim group, put it up front as cannon fodder, use them as human shields in our unstoppable march towards progress, and discard them after they have fulfilled their historical mission as tools of the revolution.
