Reflections on another blogger's thoughts about gay pride

I decided to check out The Last Debate this morning while waiting to start my tasks here at work this morning. I was glad I did, because I found that the author had written an excellent entry on his coming out experience and gay pride last week. I'd encourage everyone to go read it, and think it over for a bit. I think that most gay people can say that it's fairly representative of the inner turmoils we've all gone through -- maybe tougher in some cases, certainly milder in other cases.

Andy brings all of this up to make his point about "gay pride," and I think he's right on the money. Let me quote him: "We celebrate Gay Pride because we made it." I don't think I could have said it any better. In fact, anything I'm about to add (and you know I'm going to add my piece because, hey, this is my blog) cannot outshine that simple statement.

When I finally came out to myself during my senior year of college, I had no use for "gay pride." I could understand accepting that I'm gay and working to come to terms with it. But to be proud of it? To me, that made as much sense as being proud of having blue eyes -- and I often said as much.

Eventually, I came around to Andy's way of thinking. I realized I did have a lot to be proud of. I learned to denounce others' moralizing to define my own self-worth on my own terms. I learned (well, I'm still learning in some cases) to ignore the negative pronouncements of other, less-than-compassionate people rather than taking their consternation and condemnation to heart. I learned to not only survive in spite of all the negativity and the frequent lack of support, but to thrive in the midst of it. If that's not something to be proud of, I don't think there's anything at all worth being proud of.

It took me a while to come to that realization. But eventually, I learned to be proud of myself and what I've managed to accomplish with my life, and that includes all that I've done as a gay man. And I'm glad to hear other people like Andy echo similar sentiments.