The Times They Are A Changin'

I attended a drag show put on by the Gay Straight Alliance at my old University tonight. There were eight hundred people there and they had many professionals from around the state. Young gay people are much more visible and organized these days. Things have changed a lot in ten years. When I was in school in the early ninties we had a gay group too. About 15 people, all gay, several of whom were non-traditional students. In fact, the visible gay community at the time was so small that practically everyone had dated each other. When I attended the GSA two years ago, there were over 30 people there, all young students, and I assume, not all gay. But while gays have made great strides among young people, and I applaud them, I wouldn't trade my own experiences for anything. I guess it's like people who prefer the intamacy of small towns to big cities. It was nice being part of a small, tight knit group of outcasts. I sound like an elderly person who says that everything was better in the past, but the truth is that everyone thinks like that as they age. I'm only 37, but I constantly find myself in conversations with people about how much modern music, movies and television stink. Everyone likes the culture they grew up in best.