I have to say I was looking forward to Darrin Hagen's visit all week and thoroughly enjoyed today's class. I couldn't get over what a funny guy he is in person. Although I imagined he would be a fairly outgoing person considering his career, he seemed like a genuinely hilarious, good natured person who didn't need to try at all to be charismatic and intriguing. I also couldn't get over how tall he was in real life (I can't even begin to imagine him in heels).
I thoroughly enjoyed everything Darrin had to offer our class, but what I was most surprised by was learning how far things have come for the gay community in the last couple of decades. Although I have gay friends, some of which are very involved in the gay community, most of them are around age 20 and haven't seen how far the city/world has come. This may be my own ignorance, but I was shocked to hear that AIDS was a disease that no one understood even in the 80's, and how truly suppressed and isolated the gay community was. I know that there have always been prejudices and always will be but I guess I didn't understand the extent to which they once dominated. I have been lucky enough to grow up in a time when kids are educated from a young age about all types of prejudice and taught it is wrong. Most of my gay friends were able to come out at a fairly young age (not without some bullying of course) and live their lives being proud of who they are. We have grown up with PRIDE and celebrities and musicians who we openly gay, and television shows and movies that included gay people. Of course I am not denying that things are still bad in certain places and definitely at certain times, but I feel like we are headed in the right direction. By no means can I really say I know what it's like to walk in someone like Darrin shoes, I couldn't imagine what not being able to donate blood because of my sexuality, but I want to believe that things are slowly changing and will continue too.
Darrin's book was truly touching. I felt like I knew each of the Queens after reading it. The stories were courageous and inspirational, and I think anyone reading the book could see that. I think Darrin's career and life are a great example of how far our society has come. I don't know if Millie or any of the gay people before Flashback would have been able to live a life like Darrin's if it weren't for these changes. I think that Darrin is an amazing person who is paving the way for not only future Queens, but also future homosexual people in general who want to live a open and proud life in a prairie city.
Nice post Fran.
ReplyDeleteI was just as shocked to learn about the lack of information that the gay community had access to about AIDS. It's sickening to think that individuals in power would inhibit the individuals affected by this disease from receiving proper treatment (Note: I don't know if this is true, but it wouldn't surprise me...I really need to watch a documentary on it).
Yeah, nice post. We do forget, don't we? I think the two biggest cultural changes I've witnessed in my lifetime are gay rights and anti-smoking. It's hard to believe that just ten years ago you could get kicked out of your apartment or lose your job in Alberta, just for being gay (!!) - or that you could smoke in the fishbowl of the Humanities Centre.
ReplyDelete@Jamin: even the Sean Penn movie Milk shows a little bit of what this is like, though the real one you want to watch is called The Band Played On, by Randy Shilts.