The most galling part of the lie, of course, is that the people telling it-the people who even today insist that there is no joy for queer people-are the same people working to deprive gay people of joy. They're still telling LGBT kids that our lives are joyless, loveless, and friendless they're still telling LGBT kids that queers are miserable. This was before the internet, before there were gay characters on television who were still gay by the end of the first season, before there were gay people in movies who weren't murderers or victims, before there were gay and lesbian and bi and trans public figures, elected officials, news anchors, authors, actors, and directors.īut they're still telling the same lie. I found love, I lost love, and I found love again. I found a community that I had been told didn't exist.
I saw men dancing and I saw men laughing. Then I walked into a gay bar where I saw men with their friends and men with their lovers.
