I live in an area that is a little less than cosmopolitan. Don’t mistake this, I like where I live, but trends that hit the coast in a bi-costal rage, are usually slow to arrive in Springfield, IL. There’s Chicago 200 miles to the north and Indianapolis 200 miles to the east if you want to feel a little more urban. Along with those trends, we also have some mindsets here in the middle of the country that have not yet caught up with our more urban brethren.
Not so long ago, I was part of a
conversation, where someone stated that they wished we could “go back” to the
way things used be. While I am not sure
of the exact time for which the speaker was making reference to; some where late
in the last century, so let’s say 1985. The reason stated for wanting to “go back” was
because things were better then. Another person spoke up and said something to
the effect that things may have been better for you, but you think that would
be better for everyone? The speaker
continued and said do you think that gay people would agree that things were better
back then? The original speaker fumbled
and hummed and hawed around with no response.
This got me to ponder, has life has gotten better for gay folks? Honestly I think so. The change is largely thanks to our more enlighten young folks millennials
and gen Z and younger. By and large, they
don’t care about anyone’s sexual orientation. They have taught some of us older folks
that it’s ok to like, to friend and to hire gay people. There is no longer the
stigma that being gay was not ok. But then
wait; right in my own back yard, 30 mile to the east this occurs (link to Decatur Hearld article inserted below).
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