Left to my own devices

A few years ago I was walking around the St. Louis Galleria during June. It was Pride Month and, as I made my way past the mall stores, noting how so many of them had pride flags in their windows, I became a tad misty-eyed marveling at how far we'd come. I couldn't help but think of younger Matt, back in the 1990s, who was terrified at the prospect of coming out, and wondered how much stronger he would have felt if he'd been able to see pride flags displayed at public places. A gay friend I was with at the Galleria (and, honestly, I can't remember who it was now) scoffed at the displays, and his reaction caught me off guard. He bitterly remarked that it was just some hollow corporate show, put on because being gay was in vogue. I didn't really understand that because my mind was still cast back decades earlier to when seeing such an exhibition -- hollow or not -- just wouldn't have computed for me. I responded to the friend with something like, "Well, I sti...

The latest CU Pride Fest will occur this weekend, September 15th - 17th, in downtown Champaign. Undertaken by the UP Center of Champaign County , along with countless volunteers, Pride Fest is a celebration of the LGBTQ identity. As we approach this year's event, it hit home, more than ever this year for some reason, how important occasions such as this are. First, one might wonder why there is pride in something like sexual orientation, or gender fluidity, especially when it has been argued that people are born this way? Why, indeed. For some, that question will never have an adequate answer. For those more open-minded and empathetic, they can understand that pride comes from the condition of having been a marginalized minority. Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender has often come with a stigma attached. And that's putting it mildly. Bullying, harassment, mental and emotional damage, legal inequality, and even death have been part & parcel with one being...

This weekend is the 3rd Annual Champaign-Urbana PrideFest . Once again held at Urbana's venerable Lincoln Square, this year's festival has been expanded, not only in the number of days it takes place on, but also the number of acts/performers and stage locations (with the 'main stage' moving outside). Tracy Nectoux over at Smile Politely has done a nice write-up about the festival. To be honest, I'm a little underwhelmed about going to PrideFest this year. To be clear, this is not a comment on the festival, itself, or of the hard-working organizers, volunteers and businesses who devote their time and efforts to making it a special weekend event. No, I'm more reticent about attending because, frankly, I'm feeling a little tired of the need to be so 'out' with the subject of sexuality.