The End of Gay Culture

The New Republic ^ | October 13, 2005 | Andrew Sullivan

[Torie]

ASSIMILATION AND ITS MEANING. The End of Gay Culture Andrew Sullivan

For ... two decades, I have spent much of every summer in the small resort of Provincetown, at the tip of CapeCod. It has long attracted artists, writers, the offbeat, and the bohemian; and, for many years now, it has been to gay America what Oak Bluffs in Martha's Vineyard is to black America: a place where a separate identity essentially defines a separate place. No one bats an eye if two men walk down the street holding hands, or if a lesbian couple pecks each other on the cheek, or if a drag queen dressed as Cher careens down the main strip on a motor scooter. It's a place, in that respect, that is sui-generis. Except that it isn't anymore. As gay America has changed, so, too, has Provincetown. In a microcosm of what is happening across this country, its culture is changing.

Some of these changes are obvious. A real-estate boom has made Provincetown far more expensive than it ever was, slowly excluding poorer and younger visitors and residents. Where, once, gayness trumped class, now the reverse is true. Beautiful, renovated houses are slowly outnumbering beach shacks, once crammed with twenty-something, hand-to-mouth misfits or artists. The role of lesbians in the town's civic and cultural life has grown dramatically, as it has in the broader gay world. The faces of people dying from or struggling with aids have dwindled to an unlucky few. The number of children of gay couples has soared, and, some weeks, strollers clog the sidewalks. Bar life is not nearly as central to socializing as it once was. Men and women gather on the beach, drink coffee on the front porch of a store, or meet at the Film Festival or Spiritus Pizza.

[Torie]

The article is a bit unfocused and turgid, but the essential point is there. It seems to me that fewer and fewer people care, and much of what remains hot button with some on this site, seems more and more discordant with what is actually happening with sensibilities not only on Wall Street, or Michigan Avenue, or Market Street, Wilshire Blvd or Broadway, but on Main Street too, on the one hand, and Greenwich Village, Melrose Ave, Provincetown, whereever, on the other. Live and let live. Life is too short. Don't worry, be happy.

The interesting thing will be to see how far and where religious America (a very religious place, as sui generis place for a rich Western society) and gay America (as it were) evolve, and whether or not a comfort zone for both can be reached as a modus vivendi.

[yldstrk]

Most people are sick of "gay culture: and have recognized it for the vacuous selfishness it embraces.

[JAWs]

So the gays are being priced out of their former haven. Well, in the real estate business considers gays to be an indicator of what will be the next 'hot' area. They move in, create a bohemian culture, attract those with money and are forced out. Such is the circle of real estate life.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

reached as a modus vivendi.

You know, this is a family site.. One shouldn't use words that offend..

Seriesly, why does one describe an article as "turgid"?

[lilylangtree]

It's like anything else. The more the public consciousness gets saturated with the subliminal message that the practice of homosexuality is not wrong the more acceptance of the practice unfortunately.

[fr_freak]

It seems to me that fewer and fewer people care, and much of what remains hot button with some on this site, seems more and more discordant with what is actually happening with sensibilities not only on Wall Street, or Michigan Avenue, or Market Street, Wilshire Blvd or Broadway, but on Main Street too, on the one hand, and Greenwich Village, Melrose Ave, Provincetown, whereever, on the other.

First, Main Street USA still does not accept homosexuality as normal, regardless of how many articles like this are written trying to say that they do.

Second, the degree to which Main Street is more tolerant of this kind of overt behavior is merely a sign of how successful the pro-homosexual propaganda campaign has been. Those who are accepting of it as normal do not understand the underlying pathologies, but if ever homosexuality were to become so mainstream that these people were exposed to its true measure, its popularity would plummet. Eventually, reality will catch up with the pro-homosexual sentiments, and things will swing the other way.

Last, many if not most of those who obhect to the mainstreaming of homosexuality do not do so out of some irrational bigotry. There are a great many reasons to be wary of homosexuality, especially if you have children. One only needs to recognize homosexuality for the mental disorder that it is and all of the other attitudes fall into place. Framing the question of tolerance for homosexuality in the same way as tolerance for racial and ethnic groups is a fallacy, and is exactly the propaganda tactic that has been most successful, however it is no more logical than crusading for mainstream acceptance of schizophrenics.

[scripter]

It seems to me that fewer and fewer people care, and much of what remains hot button with some on this site, seems more and more discordant with what is actually happening with...

You may be right. As I see it, many folks are tired of hearing about gay issues. The good news is that more and more folks are realizing a gay gene doesn't exist and they are further learning about ex-gays and the very real possibility of change:

Root Causes, Homosexual Consequences
I Do Exist
Changing Minds
Homosexuality and the Possibility of Change: Introductory Pages
Latest Scientific Research: Those Struggling with Homosexuality Can Be Set Free
How Might Homosexuality Develop? Putting the Pieces Together

[Torie]

Mixed bag, eh?

[hosepipe]

Andy Sullivan has a queer way with almost everything, including words..

Could come from being a squeeking moonbat.. Whether Andys "fer it" or "ag'in it" there is something very queer about it.. or Andy would not be talking about it.. He's a good source for anti-logic.. There is good chance the opposite is true..

[freekitty]

Yeah, it was one of those artsy fartsy transition areas. Happens in the cycle of real estate.

[Torie]

One thing Andy would seem to be qualified about is telling us about the evolution of gay culture. He is not as skilled at the craft of being a witness at and insightful describer of the ever evolving cultural sensibilities and fads as Tom Wolfe, but then who is?

[Torie]

Andy didn't seeing Provincetown is degaying (one letter off from decaying, LOL), just becoming less distinctive and more bourgeoise and Lesbian, with more children, and with gay sub-groups focused less on sex and more on other hobbies and avocations.

[scripter]

The more the public consciousness gets saturated with the subliminal message that the practice of homosexuality is not wrong the more acceptance of the practice unfortunately.

That's part of the agenda as described in After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's.

I have a copy of the book, some of which is summarized on FR... somewhere.

[scripter]

I'm not sure what you're implying.

[Gay State Conservative]

All this about homosexual "culture" and not a single mention of bath houses? They are,and have been for years,the epicenter of homosexual "culture".

I,for one,believe that this omission is intentional and occurred for obvious reasons.

[scripter]

He's a good source for anti-logic.

I concur. Andrew Sullivan and Mark Pietrzyk are responsible for nearly all of the misrepresentations of Paul Cameron.

[Torie]

The article mentions them. It is as a said, a rather long and "turgid" tour de horizon," and fairly disorganized. It is not as seamless as Olson's brief was in Bush v. Gore. It just isn't.

[Torie]

Actually, it is on the very first page:

"The fact that openly gay communities were still relatively small and geographically concentrated in a handful of urban areas created a distinctive gay culture. The central institutions for gay men were baths and bars, places where men met each other in highly sexualized contexts and where sex provided the commonality."

[scripter]

I have a copy of the book, some of which is summarized on FR... somewhere.

Found it here: The Homosexual Propaganda and Media Manipulation Game...

[ichabod1]

For God's sake, the article complains that there are not enough skeletal people dying of AIDS walking the streets!

"Acceptance" is typical PC crap. Nobody can say anything about it without being vilified, ostracized, and possibly blackballed -- losing their job, so people are silent.

This way cannot go on forever.