Have you ever been discriminated as a gay person? Personally I haven't and when I saw this picture above it instantly reminded me of my life. First of all, I always consider myself a homophobic gay man. I don't like bunches of gays (although my recent opinion is that I don't like bunches of people). Still, when I look around and see the people I hang out with, many of them are gay. Skitrip 2009? My sister was the only straight person in the house. Skitrip 2010? She brought two straight male friends who are insanely tolerant to gay men. The people I consider my best friends? Most of them gay.
So back to this picture. In Flamingoland everyone is pink. And as you can see above, when a flamingo isn't pink he's being bullied by his pink friends (or enemies... or even better... frenemies). That's the story of my life. If you are a grey flamingo and you have a problem with pink flamingo's like me you'll be bullied. Fortunately my greyfeathered friends are tolerant and will never be bullied. They just fit in perfectly.
But I'm very much aware of pink flamingo's being the only pink flamingo in their herd. Covering up their pink feathers and trying to look as grey as they can. That's sad. And I don't think about these poor flamingo's enough. And I also don't appreciate my own situation as a happy pink flamingo enough. I'm just used to being pink and open about it since I was about 14. Funny how all these thoughts come up into your head when you watch a photo of flamingo's.
So back to this picture. In Flamingoland everyone is pink. And as you can see above, when a flamingo isn't pink he's being bullied by his pink friends (or enemies... or even better... frenemies). That's the story of my life. If you are a grey flamingo and you have a problem with pink flamingo's like me you'll be bullied. Fortunately my greyfeathered friends are tolerant and will never be bullied. They just fit in perfectly.
But I'm very much aware of pink flamingo's being the only pink flamingo in their herd. Covering up their pink feathers and trying to look as grey as they can. That's sad. And I don't think about these poor flamingo's enough. And I also don't appreciate my own situation as a happy pink flamingo enough. I'm just used to being pink and open about it since I was about 14. Funny how all these thoughts come up into your head when you watch a photo of flamingo's.
9 comments:
Deep thoughts@Daan's place! I like :-)
Light as a pink feather! Just a ramble....
I loved this post so much, and can easily relate to it.
Gayness also came fairly easy to me since i was 15. for years i found it hard to see some who had it differently and partially "thanks" to that, i have adopted many homophobic notions about my herd - some that are going thru a rough re-thinking process in the last few years.
at the end of the day, all we want is to feel at home with our surroundings. and some are much luckier than others
and for all grey flamingos...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ75hFzz0is&feature=related
Hurray @ Eran Evan!
My dear brother-in-law, I admire your thoughts. But they also set me thinking about how obvious it is for me that I'm surrounded by the 'gayness' - Eran Evan said it very well - that I am hardly aware of its presence. Reading your post, I realize that those 'obviousness' hardly obvious is. I do regret that!
Ore am I exaggerating, like I always do?
Lots of kisses,
dramaqueen Fredje
Love this post!!! (nothing new....I love your whole blog!!). And I loved the pic - amazing how pink is so 'in' in the flamingo world. Very ironic.
Keep up the FABULOUS work!
Thought provoking post Daan!
I like how you brought out your dislike of bunches of gays(but then bunches of people).
I too dislike bunches of people - gay or straight. SO I tend to avoid going to huge street festivals and only occasionally will I be found in a crowded bar - usually to see a friend perform or to help with a fundraiser.
I do however LOVE gay people and straight people alike lol. Most of my friends are gay/bi, but many are straight but very very gay friendly.
It is great that you are a happy pink flamingo and I am glad you are aware that others in our world are unhappy and bullied pink flamingos. Just you discussing it and putting it out there helps others think this stuff through.
Thank you for being you!
-Craig
after reading all the comments here, and doing some thinking about the issue since you've published this post - it might felt to such of us like the gay parrt in ourlife was some kind of a natural course (our childhood "feminine" costumes, for instance), like really growing into it without giving it much thoughts. still there comes a day, later in life when you see the great beauty of this natural chioce life gave us to be gays.
to say in a "homophobic" manner- unlike the Militant political gays I can say that if i was given the choice or had the chance to be born again- I'm not sure i would have chose to go for "gay". but since no one really asked me, and after living a fully gay life for the last 26 years - I think I'm quite thankful to my dear pink god for that.
That grey flamingo chose to be grey, he's totally going to corrupt normal pink flamingo lifestyles, next he'll want grey flamingo migrating rights.
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