Monday, April 19, 2010

They need us

David Mixner, gay rights activist, has heard the gay media campaigns that say gays are just like straights, except in the gender of who they love. We're just like you and therefore you shouldn't discriminate against us.

Mixner, who has been an activist for 50 years, no longer buys that argument and thinks the public doesn't either. Gays are not like straights. We've lost friends to AIDS and suicide. Our predecessors were subjected to lobotomies as recently as the 1950s. We were the target of police stings and our names were printed in the newspapers for public shaming. Our experience is different from straights and we should celebrate that difference. When AIDS flared, we created new health care systems. Our talents can benefit other areas of society. We're not like them. They need us.

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