Randolph I’ve come to the realisation (although I’ve had my suspicions in the past) that being gay is passé, especially in Johannesburg. Gone are the days of marching for our rights. M even noted the other day that there are only two queer support groups in the whole of Gauteng, in a region that services more than half the country’s population.
Kudos to these two groups, of course, but are they doing enough?
I had a brief conversation this morning (I had to drag the information out of her) with a female colleague who is a practising Catholic. She says that she thinks it is wrong that the ANC is pushing the Civil Union Act so dramatically, because it is against her beliefs. I had to drag this from her because she “didn’t want to offend” me.
While I do appreciate that her unenlightened opinion is a direct result of brainwashing by the Pope and his minions, at least she acknowledged that she has no right to judge. That said, however, she should not have made the statement in the first place whether it was right or wrong of the ANC.
Personally, I think it’s about time that the government came around to accepting that queer people are humans too, and that their long term relationships should be recognised. The church has no place in my life, and nor should it. I accept that members of my family and others may have their own belief system, but I don’t want to be told whether my moral choices are right or wrong by other human beings. That’s just hypocrisy.
I think that the government is doing the right thing in recognising committed relationships, separating church and state like they should, as opposed to forcing antiquated indoctrination on the people of South Africa.
Now all we need is for the twats in the National Blood Service to get a life and allow gay men to donate blood without requiring their sexual history beforehand, and I’ll stop being an activist.
In a way, it’s a good thing when being a member of a minority group is passé. It means that society doesn’t care, which means you can get on with real life instead of pretending someone else isn’t as good as you are.