Gay Pride Month...Big Whup!

Pardon me for being a day late, since I’m writing this on June 2nd, but there were other things on my mind from this past weekend....

Yesterday President Obama signed the first ever national proclamation designating June as LGBT Pride Month. Check out the statement here.

I will be perfectly honest with you, I feel the same way about Gay Pride Month that I feel about Black History Month....

I’m Black since birth....58 years....I’m lesbian since well, probably from birth, but I had the epiphany at the age of five the first time I fell in lust for a girl, so I figure I’ve been officially gay for the past 53 years...

So since I’m this way all of my life....24/7...365...366 during leap years.....one month don’t cut it....simply ain’t enough...I prefer to celebrate my fabulousness everyday and will....

However...

Black history is American history....I will not celebrate until all...history is taught as a part of the regular curriculum, period...It should not be a separate but unequal section in the Library, as it still is...There is more to Black history than Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers or Malcolm X....

The same holds true for LGBT Pride/history....let’s start with the Black openly gay man who stood beside Martin Luther King, yet is never mentioned when talking about the Black Civil Rights struggle....I’m talking about Bayard Rustin. You can read more about him here.

Suffice to say never got his due respect...

Obama’s proclamation comes 40 years after Stonewall...

Check out Stonewall history here...

During those 40 years, too many of us have been beaten or been killed.... The Black Community and Black Church remains as homophobic as ever.....Hate crimes continue to happen....two this past week in my neck of the woods...one passed off as a street robbery..but it was covered on the news...the other passed off as bar fight...instead of a homophobic attack...it, too received coverage on the news...that’s a good thing.....that is progress....

However...

I’m trying to be patient with Obama...but his foot dragging is honestly getting on my nerves...

Instead of the platitudes and "let’s all respect each other crap" I would love to see a little fire and kick ass attitude.... like.....I don’t know...."I’m the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces....and it’s gonna be this way from now on.....No More Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell..."

Worked for Truman when he desegregated the troops....

Or maybe...."I’ve changed my mind....gay marriage is better than civil unions... and prop 8 is bad law."

Smart man that he is Obama knows that there are a thousand federal benefits difference for couples between civil unions, domestic partners and marriage....so let’s cut the crap.....marriage between consenting adults is the only real equality....

Even if he can’t automatically reverse these crappy policies....he can at least speak out about them...decisively...instead of this namby pamby BS of....."We’ve got to love one another and respect one another".....or silence.....

Especially since I don’t see any bipartisan respect coming back in anything Obama’s done....

Don’t matter what he does....the so called right wing conservatives are so pissed off about having a Black man in their White House that he will never be able to do right in their eyes....

So...

When somebody spits in my face....I throw a left hook....plain and simple....Obama needs to flex those well honed muscles of his....

I would...

Obama’s got the people behind him....He’s got the numbers on Capital Hill....What are they going to do.....impeach him?....

they can try.....

Okay...given the choice of having an LGBT proclamation from the most powerful leader on earth....I am happy he did it....

Thank you Mr. President....

But I wish you’d put the hammer down and get to work....on some of the things that you promised during your campaign...

24/7 365....All Day, Every Day

I don't know about you but I can't be anything other than what I am. Despite cosmetic possibilities in this day in age, when I shed the makeup and look into the mirror, I'm me. I can't be tall, cause I'm short. I can't be white, cause I'm black. I can't be male, cause I'm female. I can try to be right handed, but I'm not. I can try to be straight, but again I'm not.

Furthermore, I like me just the way I am. Well, almost. I need to lose some of the weight I've gained recently and I'm doing that. I need to get more active and lately I'm doing that too. So overall except for winning the lottery I'm okay.

But I have a problem with being pigeonholed. This is June and June is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. You hear me? I said MONTH. I'm queer 24/7, 365, so why the hell am I expected to express it only during the month of June? Why should I have to hide my fabulousness for eleven months? Why can't I show it all the time?

Same goes for Black History Month in February. That one really pisses me off. February is the shortest month of all. We Blacks get screwed no matter what. I can't hide my Blackness. I sleep in my Blackness, shower in my Blackness and you're going to tell me I can only celebrate this Mocha Magnificence for 28 out of 365 days? Give me a fuckin' break and pardon me for not joining this party.

I even like my age...55 going on 56...for all you ageist muthafuckas who have a problem with middle aged/old people. I can do everything I used to do in my 20s. Some things are even better than in my 20s. Maybe not as fast and sometimes with a little more pain in the joints, but I can do them.

The only thing different about me is my growing impatience with stupidity and immaturity and a decided lack of tolerance for intolerance of other's differences.

So, yes I'm going to enjoy LGBT Pride this month and read an extra Black- authored book next February to celebrate my Specialness.

But if I feel any fabulousness creeping out in July and August, I'm going to let it happen.

Now, go home and leave me alone!