Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are!

This flag is a unified indication of my proud membership in two communities. I am Canadian. And I am gay. Since being Canadian is seldom something one is ostracized for (I mean who doesn't want to be Canadian?!) I will focus on the latter.

Primarily my motivation for putting up this declaration is visibility. I am by nature a pacifist and I don't believe in confrontational approaches to social change. Which is not to say that I don't believe in working hard for social change - I just believe that more lasting and meaningful change comes through emphasizing similarities not differences. I think that Andrew Tobias said it best when he coined the word "ho-humization". Ultimately, the goal of the gay community is "ho-humization" - to make being gay such a banal and uninteresting thing that it is "ho-hum". When it's no longer a big deal to grow up gay (or bi or trans) people will no longer see the need to deny us the same rights and privileges the rest of the straight world take for granted.

Ho-humization comes with exposure and visibility. The trouble with the GLBT community is that with the exception of a small number of individuals that happen to fulfill some stereotypes, we are an invisible minority. Most people are exposed to GLBT people constantly! They just don't realize it.