That will teach you a lesson about reading the comments on Yahoo. :-/ Usually within the first three, I am sick to my stomach.

Think about it, half of congress would be expelled.

I was disgusted at some of the hateful comments I read from people on the yahoo news article about his passing. This country is so ignorant.

He’s annoyed and concerned about the lack of a sense of history in our young people – especially young gay people – who take the relative freedoms and ease for granted, without any appreciation for the discrimination and hardships that have come before (and that’s not even discussing 2 generations decimated by HIV/AIDS) – which he feels leads to a lack of vigilance, activism, etc.

At the same time, I have to remind him that the flip side of this is that young people today – gay and straight – seem to be operating from a tabula rasa – that the notion of discrimination against gays for them is as anathema as it would be to argue against the right of women to vote, or for blacks to get services whereever the hell they want. It just doesn’t compute for them – that’s from “the olden days”.

I’m not sure what the relationship is there – whether ignorance of the past makes it easier for the next generation to shrug off oppressive and outdated ideas, even though it sometimes means a lack of appreciation for what it took to make that possible. Whether the price of “well, duh” is, effectively “huh?”.

Either way, I certainly appreciate it, and man am I glad I live in a generation and a society where Kameny was my elder.