Gay adults on how they were "born this way" (Salon)
Not every little girl grows up wanting to marry the prince. Not every adolescent boy wants "only one thing" from girls. You think that'd be obvious by now. Yet we have near-daily reminders that the world is full of small-minded bigots ever at the ready to condemn "the gay lifestyle" – bigots who sit on advisory boards, religious leaders who agonize over their "belief systems" and "boundaries," and political candidates who think being gay is "an option" that is neither "valid" nor "successful." Because they view homosexuality as something one does rather than something one is, it's easy for them to believe that if gay people just tried a little harder, they wouldn't keep bugging everybody with their pesky demands for basic civil rights. And they think that those boys and girls who seem somehow "different" just need a team sports or Barbie intervention and they can fixed before it's too late.
How inspiring, then, on the heels of the "It Gets Better" project, to find another refuge of tolerance and sanity on the Internet: the funny, occasionally heartbreaking "Born This Way." Sharing its name with Lady Gaga's forthcoming album, Los Angeles DJ Paul V.'s month-old blog has become an addictive compendium of childhood photos and stories "that capture …. OUR nature, our TRUTH!" And in Paul's own kickoff post -- with a preschool image of a friend with a hands-on-hips pose that would make Tyra proud -- he clearly explains that being born this way doesn't mean being born effeminate or butch. "Some of the pix here feature gay boys with feminine traits, and some gay girls with masculine traits," he writes. "And even more gay kids with NONE of those traits. And just like real life, these gay kids come in all shades and layers of masculine and feminine. And the sooner we teach all children that being gay is as normal (and biological) as being straight, then maybe it really WILL get better."
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Complete article at Salon : http://bit.ly/faYiNa
