Coming Out In The 1950s

This video is really cool! I am a big fan of trying to capture gay history--all history, really--but gay history particularly. It's so easy for us to forget our past, and to look only at today. I complain about the lack of gay bars in Manhattan, Kansas, and that we ONLY have Civil Unions in California. But there is so much more, and we've come so far.

To forget our history, and those who made today possible for the rest of us, would be a huge injustice. Not only to those we've forgotten, but to ourselves. I've written before that the LGBT community often forgets that we can build upon our history, that we can stand on the shoulders of giants. Instead, we each come out on our own--instead of standing on their shoulders, we try to jump.

This project and others like it will help to change that. Moreover, I think, it will help to humanize an ideal. By showing the world that the struggles and issues that the LGBT population has gone through over the decade, other people will realize that they are, at heart, human issues, not particular to LGBT people only at all.

Listening to Phyllis talk about her experience (the briefcase anecdote is adorable in only the way an old person can be adorable) is really touching, and her admonition to come out is so very hard to ignore.

I can't wait for more of these videos to come out...so inspiring!