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a thought to savor: on pride
Here's something I found on soc.support.youth.gay-lesbian-bi that I want
to pass along in appreciation of its eloquence and insight. May each and
everyone one of us will come to be proud of ourselves not so much for who
we are as for what we've done on account of that self-awareness. -- NQV.
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About the issue of pride (which I accidentaly deleted from your text):
I'm not proud to be gay. Gay itself is not something I think much about;
it's like having brown hair, which I'm perfectly happy with, but not
particularly proud of either. What I am proud of is how far I've come in
the ten years since I first confronted many of the fears I see in your
letter; the fact that I've built a happy and loving five-year relationship
with a wonderful man, which would have been unimaginable to me ten years ago.
The fact that I've made love joyously and freely in spite of every negative
message our culture and media dished out to me as I was growing up. The
fact that I've demanded (and won) respect and support for who I am simply
by learning to respect and support myself. The fact that I've built and
deepened a relationship with the very family I thought I might lose, because
the real thing driving us apart wasn't that I was gay; it was that I didn't
let them get to know me. I think someday, you will be proud of reaching out
with this letter, and that will be the start of a long list of things to be
proud of.
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