I'm feeling really gay today...

I find myself lucky to have grown up, and been a part of, the gay and lesbian rights movement. I'm a collector, I guess you could say. No, despite the fact I've been told I look like Elijah Wood, I am no collector as he was in Everything Is Illuminated. Which is a fabulous movie and a must see.
And I don't look like Elijah Wood - Especially not like him in that movie. Not that I look like him more as Frodo or something.

Ahem. So, I have something from every rally, every Pride, every "gay event" I've attended; then there's magazines. The magazines, all ones I've saved over the years, can be seen as stepping stones for me. Or simply things which had a profound influence on my life. They're in chronological order, not because I'm anal, but because that simply makes sense.

(And I'm anal.)



The Newsweek "Lesbians" edition is from 1993. I was a Junior in high school and just realizing my orientation. I bought this and kept it hidden from my parents. Hehe.

The KD Lang one came out shortly thereafter and it probably is to blame for my slight obsession with her as a Senior. I HAD the damn Rolling Stone where Melissa Etheridge came out but I have no idea what happened to it.

Ah, Glenn Close playing Margrethe Cammermeyer in Serving in Silence. February 1995. I was out then and I recall watching this with my mother.

Ellen coming out in 1997 was groundbreaking. I was a budding Internet junkie who debated and discussed Ellen on the AOL message boards. Whether or not Ellen was gay was a hot topic and it got quite heated in there. I wish I could see some of my posts now. I wonder how my views have changed. Probably not all that much considering...
I became a vehement critic of the show as it plummeted into the abyss of canceled shows. The shows writing changed and I found it painful to watch to the point I stopped watching long before it was canceled. I was very sorry to see it canceled, but I saw such a missed opportunity.

Now that the show had the nation's attention, it should have continued along a similar path that it had been. She came out, yes, but it felt like she did over and over again in each and every show thereafter. What Ellen is doing now is exactly what she was meant to. She has, arguably, the most popular daytime talkshow which caiters to American housewives. She does not remind them daily that she is gay. She is down to earth and, even those who are homophobic, can feel comfortable watching a lesbian woman host a talk show.

Anyway, I rambled there. The Advocate is from the 2000 Millineum March in Washington DC. Sadly, it is a little worse for wear then the others because it was a free handout there. Now that was quite an experience. Apparently I missed seeing the Phelps Pack there but I do recall one guy standing near the stage with some silly sign. No one really paid him any mind.

The Karina Lombard issue of Curve really fits as a 'stepping stone' - She's just hot and that's a hot cover.

Ah, and my sweet Melissa's announcement she has breast cancer. A sad and scary time. Oh, but then when she played at the Grammys with Joss Stone (I dunno if it was the Grammys or Emmys or what, I get them confused.) - Oh, did she bring the house down. What an absolutely inspirational performance.

I think I'll dig around through my boxes for some of the the nicknacks I've saved. Unfortunately, last year I had a 12 pack of pop burst in the trunk of my car which ruined my cork board and everything attached to it. I'm very much regretting leaving that in my trunk for so long. I had to throw away a lot of the stuff I had attached to it. :(