Middle Age: The Chickens Really Do Come Home to Roost

There is something about being in your forties that has a kind of crushed-glass-and-vinegar-enema sensation.

But one must live. Lately, I have been looking at my breakneck running speed--if not in body, at least in mind. And I see that it is STILL about childhood stuff. I think this is why Ann Coulter's horrible comment got to me so much.

There she is, all smug--making a faggot joke. And people, though uncomfortably at first but then whole heartedly, had such a great laugh about it.
I can understand her making fun of the ridiculous hypocrisy of someone going into rehab over calling someone a name. Left Wing people do come across as overly controlling and tyrannically PC. I applaud making fun of that. But to link that onto calling a grown, well respected man a faggot?

Ann is an actress, for sure. Perhaps she is our current day Lenny Bruce (with the soul of Ayn Rand). It's so interesting. And let people do what they want. (I use the N word in ironic post-racist constructions and I chide my Jewish friends for their clannish ways.)

But personally, I find using the pejorative in public assembly damaging. If I ever meet Ann, what could I say to this tall, blond, straight, privileged woman who clearly has a high opinion of herself? "Hey Ann, Why the long face?" Or "Man, you're an idiot. Your diatribes aren't even based upon fact." I think I would say nothing to the nut.

Adam, my recognized-by-the-State-of-California-Domestic-Partner, believes that growing up gay in the 1970's was the toughest time to be gay. It had become very well known by then but was still not at all acceptable. So, one was easily identified and then quickly vilified in turn. Of course, it is a bit gay to think that you are the center of the highest possible era of pain, however---I think his experience of growing up gay in that period was very difficult and his perception of it being quite crappy is, of course, right on.

Not that growing up gay is easy ever. And certainly, it must have been even more awful in earlier decades and centuries when one couldn't even begin to be oneself. Egad.

Pain is pain. And things change at a snail’s pace.

In general, it has been very difficult to live during this administration as a gay person. These right wing loons are bullies and their entertainers are mean spirited and empowered. It seems to me the only thing to do is to organize a gay cross-country walk that begins in New York, weaves its way through the most conservative towns in the country, and ends in Los Angeles. It will be the "I survived the United States" walk.