IDAHO 2010

Today, May 17th, is the International Day Against HOmophobia.

One of the least noticed, but still important, days. Yes, least noticed, for us living outside the LGBT-community. I used to be in it, in that world of "don't assume anyones gender", "boo-hoo, we are so oppressed", "we have the right to express our personalities in any way we wish". That was my world.

I'm not claiming that I live in the hetero-norm now, but over the years some things has become less important to me. I no longer care about passing as a man at the expense of my own comfort, I no longer panic when a stranger talks to me because I don't know in what range my voice needs to be to fit the gender I assume that they assume that I am. Yeah, stuff got complicated, now they're easier, 'cos I care less.

This day is still important, for all those that still worry, still feel oppressed, still feel they cannot be themselves.
But how do we change the world? Do we do it by arranging activities within the community? Do we do it by having 100 people in town listening to a couple of politicians holding speeches about how bad homophobia is? Do we do it by freaky parades, by dressing freakishly or barely...?

Where are the straight peoples parade? When is the one week per year that they shame themselves in public, by wearing feather boas and leather chaps? When do they express their hidden inner selves, their fetishes? They don't.

It amazes me. Even when I lived in that world, it amazed me. This attitude that "we are just like you, and we should have the same rights as you. We are prouder of being us than you are of being you. We are just as good as you and we show that by expressing ourselves just one week a year, as you express yourselves everyday. Don't this pink boa go great with this wig? And if I stand on these stilts I can wear a longer dress."

I've been in one Pride-parade, in 2007. Mass-psychosis. People challenging other people to be even weirder, dress even stranger, dance even crazier. And people do this, sober, what no straight person would ever do drunk.

When was the last time you saw a hetero-normative person wear a little black dress and boxing gloves? Huge bright blonde wig and beard? They don't.

As I said, this is an important day. This could be the day when "we" show ourselves as normal, when we show that we are humans, just as the straight people. This could be the day to balance the Pride celebrations. This could be the day when we focus on politics and equal rights. This could be the day when we do a serious attempt to crush homophobia. But, we don't.

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