PIERCING THE ILLUSION



An illusion is an incorrect or distorted perception of objective reality. It is a false idea or belief tied to a misperception. It can be summarized as seeing what you want to see. This is epidemic in the a la carte digital info-sphere upon which many of us base our opinions.

 

There is a mass illusion concerning LGBT people right here in blue-state Massachusetts. Legalized gay marriage has been perceived as a cure for hatred of LGBT people. But, like most top-down measures in law, like the Civil Rights Act, gay marriage has simply scratched the scab off a seething pustule of personal bigotry-in-action against homosexuals.

 

If you live in a bustling metropolitan inner city high-rise, you are less likely to encounter the hatred I am discussing here. You are most likely surrounded by well heeled and well educated urbanites who can afford high rents or expensive ownership. You are blessed and cursed with cordial urban unanimity, give or take the sprinkling of drunks and inconsiderate noise-makers. These nuisances are not singling you out because of who you are. They are simply unconcerned with anyone but themselves: Run-of-the-mill narcissists.

 

I am sympathetic to, but also amused by, conventional heterosexuals of racial and ethnic minorities who complain that they are treated harshly because some White people look at them strangely in public. Getting the cold shoulder from a store clerk is somehow seen as a deep personal affront. To that, I say, "Welcome to my world."  I would also add that I get disrespect from all levels of society. I get called "fag" by homeless junkies of all races and creeds, for example. People in the lowest life conditions can always find comrades in hatred of LGBT people. We are the universal scapegoat.

 

This will not be changed by current LGBT activism. Just as racism against African-Americans cannot be changed by Black Lives Matter. LGBT activism of today is a return to the suit-and-tie activism of the Mattachine Society. It was a seminal movement which did provide some early momentum to the rise of Gay Liberation. Gay Liberation, like Black Pride movements, focused on raising awareness and self-respect within the homosexual community. Its strength was founded in self-development and coming out. The basic concept was social revolution through strong individual evolution.

 

The illusory equality of gay weddings and homosexuals with military uniforms has no sustainable strength without a parallel movement of individual responsibility to maintain change. Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld discovered this harsh reality in Germany before and during WWII. Oscar Wilde discovered this reality after being sent to prison in Victorian England.

 

I am currently dealing with homophobic harassment from ostensibly heterosexual neighbors here in Boston in 2016. It is the kind of low-grade harassment that is most likely excused in their minds by their perceptions of my age, my White-ness, or my relative affluence. Hard to tell precisely, since the harassment is in the form of the most brutish adolescent group behaviors: Blaring music at my property line at all hours, taunting from a microphone attached to a karaoke system, jeering drunken laughter of grown men who speak a foreign language. This is the neighborhood I live in. These ruffians are the brethren of ISIS followers and Neo-Nazis.

 

And what about all that fine legislation to "protect" my rights? Well, the gruff building inspector whom I called to report the illegal use of the garage backing onto my property line, where the harassment originates, informed me that he was greeted for his inspection by a man 'with children'. He then reported to me through gritted teeth that the man 'with children' had a right to use the garage for car repair and to blast a boom box while doing so. I got the message days later when the gang behind me initiated three full days of ear-piercing, ground shaking sound bombardment. Perhaps if I was a man 'with children' this wouldn't have happened. Perhaps the building inspector would have done his job properly by telling the man 'with children' that a garage cannot be used as a social club for alcoholics.

 

So, how do I proceed in the face of this? Well, I have been consciously homosexual for over 50 years. I am no stranger to harassment and bullying from my fellow citizens and my government. I shall do what I always do. I will defend my Constitutional rights as an American citizen non-violently. These rights did not start with gay marriage, gay adoption, gay soldiering. These rights started the day I was born here in the USA. This is how I have practiced my own liberation from the oppression of bigotry. I have educated myself. I have participated in society as an active citizen. I have fulfilled my responsibilities as a citizen. And, I hold authority accountable.

 

I will continue to live in the real world without illusions of impending salvation from others.