MUST READ!!!! CRAIG GLAZER CONSIDERS LGBT PROGRESS IN KANSAS CITY AND AROUND THE WORLD!!!

TKC Note: Tonight our pal Craig Glazer considers the changing world and evolving attitudes toward the LGBT community in Kansas City and across the globe. Check it:

Is it a gay, gay,
gay world?

Most of us are old enough to remember the difficulties put upon people that were homosexual. In fact, in some places, it was actually illegal. Just a few decades ago, in countries like Germany, you could be imprisoned or worse for being a homosexual. In the more recent current events, people that were gay generally were outcasts. We all can remember those days in elementary school, junior high, or beyond where people would be belittled for being nerdy, out of shape or not very good at sports and it was acceptable, if not encouraged, to call them things like ‘fags’, ‘queerbait’ and ‘homo’ among other slurs. Simply put, being a homosexual, even in America, until very recently was something you wanted to hide so you wouldn’t be physically or verbally attacked. The world has changed, for the most part (unless of course, you are Russian).

The acceptance of being gay could quite possibly be attributed to the ‘coolness’ of such a lifestyle that has been illuminated by the Hollywood elite. Hollywood has always had a large homosexual contingency, not only with actors and actresses, but with film-makers, agents and studio heads. Rumors surfaced a couple of decades ago from studios like Universal and Disney, of some of the most powerful people within those companies being gay. While most of these men and women never admitted it, the rumors and gossip soon became a reality. In fact, there was a running joke that it was easier to name the smaller list of those celebrities who were straight than it was to list those who weren’t. Some of the bigger names include movie stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and television stars like Ellen DeGeneres and Anderson Cooper, just to name a few. We all know that women being bisexual comes pretty close to being a ‘rage’ today. Much of the credit for this new found popular trend would have to go to Hollywood superstar, Madonna. We could spend all day naming the film, television and entertainment stars who were or are gay, it’s not a secret.
Most of us did not experience the new-found glory of being bisexual as a student. I am told by teenagers that some of the most popular kids in school, especially boys, are bisexual. Used to be those are the guys who got their ass kicked, today they are both king and queen at the proms.

Maybe most important change, is the legalization of gay marriage in a handful of states across America. Much like the marijuana laws changing, and headed towards national legalization, as it should be, the acceptance of men and women being homosexual has finally come to the forefront of the American identity in a positive way. What the nation is coming to terms with is the fact that being gay is not an illness, it’s not a sign of mental instability, but instead a way of life that harms nobody. Even the AIDS virus, which was strongly attributed to the homosexual community, has all but vanished as has the unfair stigmata it attached to the gay community.

While there are still haters, and there always will be, from the Christian right and people who ‘just think it’s wrong’, the majority of Americans are now seeing the gay lifestyle as just that, a lifestyle. In fact some of the most popular restaurants and nightclubs in America have a gay ‘flair’ or ambience to them. There’s a hipness in the air surrounding this newly acceptable way of life. Right here in Kansas City we have several good examples like Missy B’s, one of the most popular bars in the area, and Hamburger Mary’s, a restaurant popular with gays and straight people alike.

I’ve always said live and let live. I don’t think anybody makes you become a homosexual or for that matter makes you do drugs or live any other lifestyle you don’t want to accept. It bothers me to look back in the not too distant past and see the mistreatment of these folks who were gay as much as it bothers me to look back and see the ten and twenty year sentences given (especially in places like Texas) to men and women who possessed small amounts of marijuana. The acceptance of gay men and women in our communities as well as the workplace has long been needed. We need to learn not to judge others by the way we see the world and how it should be lived in but as long as people that are different aren’t harming us, they have every right to live life the way they see fit. God Bless America.
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