I guess I’m old enough to find it amazing – breathtaking, really – that the differences between homo and hetero relationships are being discussed morning TV, with the assumption not that hetero is right and homo is wrong, but that they are just two types of relationships which in some ways may or may not be the same or different. Wow.
Now, there’s a lot of stuff to parse here, and Joy’s comments seem to be provoking fewer protests than nods of agreement, which is interesting since the LGBT rights movement is blue in the face lately from trying so hard to convince us all that homos are just like heteros. But, despite the fact that this is a discussion I love – it’s probably my all-time favorite topic of conversation! – I will save it for another day and just bask in the warm light of how much better things are now than they were, “when I was your age, sonny.” One of the many wonderful things about getting older is that you get to see it happen. When I was a kid you were lucky if homosexuality was mentioned on Tom Snyder‘s show, after midnight when respectable people were in bed asleep.
This article appears in January 29 • 2010.