the Other Press

  

March 14, 1991

 

 

 

 

 

ins

The attempt to portray the
experience of being a Lesbian
from an insider’s point of view
as well as discuss some of the
oppression has presented more
of the sorrows than the joy of
being a lesbian. Hopefully, it’s
clear that the sorrows need not
be there, since they’re the result
of interaction with a damn
hostile environment.

Understandably, some
people may ask "Why come out,
if it’s so much trouble?" And
well they might ask. But then,
why continue to be of Asian
descent, to have blue eyes, or to
be Black? Because it’s natural.

Why try to conform to some
non-Gay image when it’s an
impossible affront to integrity in
the first place? It’s unnatural for
us. And the unhappy
consequences of such efforts
have been a part of our struggle
to come to terms with ourselves.

But, what is so wonderful
about being a lesbian? It’s
impossible to generalize. I like
knowing that womensare
potential lovespartners rather
than competitors or enemies. I
like walking down the street and
exchanging a glance and a smile
with another Lesbian,
acknowledging that we are
related and we know it. I like the
camp humor that we have
developed aS a means of
spotlighting the insanity of most
convention, “the hidden
oppression, and our“ability’ to
laugh and keep afloat inspite of
it all.

But one of the greatest joys
of being a LesbiangiS thateit
permits you to be a full human
being. in other words, by
definition, you don’t fitsociety’s
picture of the real woman.

Being a Gay person isn’t
anti, it’s pro. We've learned to
appreciate individual
differences the hard way. We
have a stake in everyone’s
freedom because it’s the only
way we will be assured of our
own. We’ve been hated because
we’re people who dared to
follow our own truth in times
and places where our love has
been forbidden.

Gay people have had to
develop a benign,
self-protective alertness that can
be viewed as a positive form of
"paranoia." This "paranoia" is
benign because it acts only as an
early warning system that helps
us to make social adjustments
that smooth social interactions.
It’s not the malignant sort of
paranoia that keeps us tense
with the suspicion that the
world is out to get and makes
social intercourse tempestuous
or impossible.

Most of all, I suppose, from
the list that could be drawn of
the pleasures of being a Lesbian,
I like being able to be myself, to
respect differences in people,
and to look on the human world
with a sense of compassion.

ItSymot easy to be a Gay
person im Olix, society today,
row it's easier, than it was a
decade or two ago. Once you
realize you're Gay, you know
that you're in for plenty of pain
and struggle. You face
discrimination and prejudice
from people who supposedly
love you. The emotional

urescan be enormous. But
all of this is not due to the fact
that you’re Gay, but the
prejudice and bigotry of a
society that has unthinkably
used minorities for
scapegoating.

In spite of the enormous
weight placed on us by an
oppressive environment, it’s
possible to join hands with
people who appreciate Gay
people, especially other gay
people today.

We are released by our
Lesbian identity, and celebrate
the pain of the past and the
potential of the future.

   
    
            
 
       
      
 
   
   
 
   
 
 
 
     
   
 
   
     
    
   
 
 
     
     
   
    
      
   
   
    
 
 
    
    
   
 
   
   
 
   
 
 
 
   
 
   
 
 
 
 
   
 
    
 
 
   

Ican still remember the day
I walked through that door, my
mind had a million excuses
running through it.

"Why did I have to tell them
anyways. They don’t need to
know. Do they? Later , I can tell

_ them later."

Lesbian Week

But I knew that it was time
to share it with them, I could not
be myself, and continue to live
the false life that others wanted
for me.

I'm ready to grow and do
everything that I’ve kept inside
that’s me. But who is the real
me? All those years of hiding
and lying have left me with an
empty void.

Am I still the same person
that I knew , Would my parents
still love me? But, I finally
realized to myself that I hadn’t
changed, and if they really loved
me, that their love for me could
not simply be tossed aside. It
was me that they cared for.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I hope that this letter will help
you to understand that I love you
both dearly , and that I wouldn't do
anything to hurt you.

When I was younger you
taught me not to steal, to be fair,
and to be honest. So now I must be
honest with you ...I'm gay.

How Do! Te

 

The letter would never
finished, and never sent.
send them the letter would
the biggest and the crue
cop-out. But where, how
when would I tell them? @
book that I had réad ab
coming out, had sdid to
sure that I didnitesbuild dup
situation to@ much. I we
everything to be just right.
next couple of days were s| P|
just trying to decide just w
it was that I could tell them.
first it was going to be
restaurant, good food a
pleasant atmosphere. But
told them there, then ff
would all be worried ab
keeping our voices down, é
maybe not even able to talk.

Plan #2

Using food as a cent
theme was a great idea. Abo
block and a half away is as
take out chicken place, so o
went and bought a barrel
chicken, some potato sal
plastic forks — the whole

  

  

  

    
 
  

  

  

  
  

  

The day was sunny and bright.
We stood in the middle of
Commercial Drive, held hands
and marched in support of
lesbian rights and gay pride.

"We're here, we’re queer.
We're proud of it, get used to it”
and "Hey, hey, ho, ho,
homophobia has got to go”
shook the shops on the drive.
My friend said to me it felt good
to be that "out" in the open,
defiantly kissing each other in
front of the world.

It was a great day. We
rocked the windows of Joe’s
Cafe with our voices. Happy
International Lesbian week.

Homosexuality I:

How many times have you
read or heard somebody mutter
the words that homosexuality is
not just sex? Every time I hear
this phrase being espoused by
so called liberal minded
individuals who are either very
gay positve or are gay
themselves,I get very angry.

If being
then whatis
why they
and again
tired of bei
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intolerent or
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homosexuali
and intellec
mirrors hetey

Justass
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Bisexual peo
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involved.

Gay me
women, just a
women. Simi