Where in the West are Gay Men Oppressed?

Searching in vain for a city in the U.S., Europe, or Australia in which gay men must struggle against prejudice.

This morning someone sent me a Tweet by James May of Top Gear fame, who made the following observation of Pride Month in London:

In response to Mr. May’s Tweet, a commentator wrote:

This response made me wonder: Where, in the West, must gay men and women struggle against prejudice?

I ran down the list of all the cities in which I’ve lived or visited for an extended period: Dallas, Boston, New York, Miami, San Francisco, London, Vienna, Rome, Paris, Berlin. Is it just me, or do gay men have a jolly good time all the time in these cities?

One of my uncles was a gay man who lived in South Beach, Miami, and my father (his brother) once wryly observed: “David has a great deal more fun than the rest of our extended family put together.”

Where, in the West, must gay men struggle? I suppose a gay boy growing up in Guerra, Texas—located in Jim Hogg County, where the population consists of only 3 people—might find himself lonely, but he can move to Dallas, along with the thousands of other people who move here every day.

A few days ago I listened to a long and fascinating interview with Kevin Spacey in which he talked about how he and his fellow actor, Ian McKellen, chose to remain in the closet for much of their careers. McKellen was born in 1939; Spacey was born in 1959. Attitudes and social conventions with respect to gay men have changed a great deal since 1959.

The entire Gay Pride phenomenon reminds me of Hegel’s famous observation that “the owl of Minerva takes flight only with the gathering of the dusk.” What he apparently meant with this remark is that we only become fully conscious of a cultural state of affairs after it has passed. For example, the attitudes and conduct of New York City police in 1969, which prompted the Stonewall Riots, has drastically changed in the last 55 years. Thus, the perception of oppression seems to be rooted more in reflections on history than the actual conditions that prevail today.

I have no doubt that it can be difficult for an adolescent boy to come to terms with the fact that he is gay. I’m sure it can be very painful process. It’s a terrible irony that the biggest oppressor of gay adolescents may now be the transgender lobby, which encourages confused, adolescent gay boys to think of themselves as girls trapped in boys’ bodies. Multiple studies have shown that the majority of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria will—if left alone by transgender advocates—grow up to identify as gay.

The antidote to feeling uncomfortable in one’s own skin is not PRIDE, but the pursuit of personal excellence and social skills, regardless of one’s sexual preference.

One grows weary of our culture’s weird fetish with victimhood.