Once the Fight is Over, Then What?

I used today, Australia day to watch some TV as I am still feeling sick and I own the final season of Queer as Folk and I made myself watch the final disc because I never watch it anymore, and the final episode fascinates me. 

It’s been 5 or 6 year now since that show finish and there hasn’t been a gay dedicate program since.  Strange, there is a huge dedicate demographic that would follow gay specific programming.  In the final episode the writers had to set the tone for finishing up the TV series and what the gay movement and the gay experience means moving forward.  They chose to go down the gay oppression avenue with the bomb blast at the gay club by anti gay extremists.  A little melodramatic, but then again the show had always walked the melodramatic line sometimes, and then been brutally realistic and chillingly cool the very next scene.   The lesbians were running away to live a better life in the Utopia of Canada where gay people are valued and loved, Brian and Justin decided not to get married, as they felt it was more loving to not live compromised lives by trying to be together, they thought it was more loving to set each other free to live lives as singles, even though they loved each other enough to want to marry.  I liked that writing a lot, because it was original.  The shows final statement on being gay was “Can you feel that thumper thumper pulsing through your body, that will always continue” Not very deep or insightful, a bit weak really.  I think the future direction of the gay movement will go like this.

1.       The final hurdles of equality will be reached, marriage and adoption.

2.       Once the fight if over there will be a strange lag and people who remember having to hide who they were will feel very uneasy with the new calm, as they miss the adrenaline from always being on edge.

3.       Children who have been brought up loved as who they are, with no silly expectation to fit a heterosexual ideal will not understand the issues to the older gay community as they won’t know what it’s like to feel devalued and second rate.

4.       People are already saying the gay scene is dyeing, and they think it’s because with acceptance, the need to stick together dwindles.  The oppression that gave us something to fight against has nearly all gone, so we just go to any night club now.

I think that nearly anyone who thinks or knows they are gay has a lot of drama to go through on their life journey.  I think that’s why it becomes so consuming, because it generates such stomach flips for as all.  From the fear of being found out, to the rejection from people we love but don’t love us back, to the thrill of finally acting out burning fantasies.   Then come the good things that we didn’t know existed like huge amounts of random sex and finding unconditional love from someone special.  And the problems we didn’t know would come, like sex and substance addiction, and unrequited love, and trying to make a monogamous relationship work in transitory society.  And on top of all this we are the first generation to be writing the rules, no one has lived openly to set an example before us, we are having to do the best we can with no role models to follow.  No wonder we make mistakes, we’re just doing the best we can.