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Gay is the New Straight Alecia Coutain Queens University of Charlotte

I. Cultural Heritage Gay Is the New Straight

September 13, 2012

Back in the days of yesteryear, the gay, lesbian, and transgender culture has been heavily frowned down upon; today, there has been great strides made to increase the publics knowledge and awareness about this culture which has led to a widespread acceptance amongst the masses. As a whole, I believe that America is a tight culture in the sense that, Tight cultures have many rules, norms, and ideas about what is correct behavior in each situation( McDaniel, Porter, Samovar, 2012, pg. 37). One example of this extreme behavior occurs among the soldiers in the military. In this arena, everyone abides by the implicit Dont ask, dont tell rule; it is not uncommon to hear about the death of a homosexual soldier that revealed or even had suspicions about their sexual orientation. As a person that is fascinated by the gay, lesbian, and transgender culture, I made it a point to attend the Pride Charlotte Festival, and I have a positive experience. When my best friend invited me, I was a little bit apprehensive to attend, but I decided to be supportive of my friend and step into a little part of their culture. I felt a little bit of anxiety when I was getting ready; various thoughts such as, What do I wear?, What if someone hits on me? all rushed through my head. Because culture is symbolic, words, gestures, and symbols convey meaning (McDaniel, Porter, Samovar, 2012, pg. 26),this is why I stayed away from wearing anything that resembled a rainbow. I thought about wearing a shirt that says I Love Men but the letter N was crossed out (me), but I did not want anyone to think that I was being sarcastic and I did not want to draw unwanted and unnecessary attention to myself, so I decided against it. The outfit that I chose was modest and I felt that I could blend in with the rest of the crowd. Before we got to the festival, I had to rid myself of any stereotypical ideas I had in my head; I was thinking that this festival was going to be a big orgy with half naked men and women

parading around everywhere. I thought of this because I have watched too many documentaries and television series about the gay, lesbian, and transgender world, but that was ignorance on my behalf and I went in with a clear mind. When we first arrived, we walked into the middle of chaos. There were three groups of proestors: the first group was a Christian group that was advocating that the gay lifestyle was an abominable sin, the second group was another Christian group saying that it was acceptable to be a gay Christian, and the last group was a group of gay and lesbian protestors saying that the first Christian group was being irrational and ridiculous. Despite the fact that the first group of Christian protestors were criticizing these people about their lifestyle, they still felt a sense of pride and unity among family as they refer to each other. One aspect of this culture that I noticed was role reversal. In America, we expect men to be masculine and women to be feminine. According to the book, masculinity versus its opposite femininity refers to the distribution of values between genders( (McDaniel, Porter, Samovar, 2012, pg. 26). From stepping inside this culture, it seems as if the values of the genders really do not matter, as long as people are being who they truly are on the inside. At the festival, it was normal to see men dressed in full drag which included make-up, wigs, dresses, skirts, and high heels. Also, many girls were dressed like men with sagging pants and/or shorts, and sneakers. Though this is not normal for heterosexual people, ti was good to see people comfortable in their skin. Another aspect of this culture that I observed was how the culture was communicated to the audience through language. I had to get a quick lesson in the language of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community because I was lost when my friends were talking about the

attendees. First, the guys that act more feminine are referred to as girls, cunts, or (sadly) faggots. The girls that dressed like guys were called studs, dykes, or butches, and effeminate lebsians are called lipstick lesbians. Besides all the terms that can describe different people in that community, I was surprised to see a lot of small children with their parents and teenagers. I was surprised to see the teenagers because I know that it takes an immense amount of courage to claim that they are gay because they go through more ridicule at an early age. According to MacDaniel, Porter, and Samovar (2012), [Culture is learned through observations, imitation, [and] the proper way to think and feel(pg. 12). I was most shocked to see the little children because I personally would never expose my child to this lifestyle at such a young age. I was thinking that these children will grow up to experience a different life and have a different perspective on family and the world in general. Overall, I learned a lot from this culture. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is a very loose culture because, [they] have fewer norms and rules like tight cultures(MacDaniel, Porter, Samovar, 2012, pg. 37). One could show up in a rainbow thong and no one would criticize them because being different is part of the norm of that culture since our society labels them as different because of their sexual orientation. From being at the festival, it was good to see all those people in an environment that they could call their own for a day and be comfortable because they are criticized and ostracized frequently. Also, it was nice to see how good people felt when people within their culture were doing good things and making a change in the community. All in all, it was refreshing to gain more knowledge about the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community.

References McDaniel, E., Porter, Richard, Samovar, L. 2012. Intercultural Communication: A Reader. 13th Edition. 2012. Lyn Uhl.