When Ellen came out of the closet I was 18 years old and extremely annoyed with all of the headlines. So she was a lesbian, why was that anybody's business? What annoyed me more than the media making such a big deal out of it was the fact that SHE had made such a big deal out of it. You didn't see Demi Moore going on Oprah saying "I'm straight!"
When I was much younger, my Auntie Nina had a boyfriend. He was really nice and I had a little girly crush on him. We moved to California and then came back to Vegas, but when we got back the boyfriend was no longer in the picture. I asked Nina why they broke up, and she simply said "Times change, people change." I accepted that, time went on, and while I never made the conscious connection, I knew that the reason the boyfriend never came back into the picture was because Auntie Nina had moved the boyfriend out of her life, and moved a girlfriend in. This never bothered me, it simply made since. I think that's why the whole Ellen thing bothered me.
In the 1980's I never saw Nina make a big production about her sexual preference (though granted I was young and there may have been one) so why the Hell did Ellen's matter? Why would it be a big deal in the late 1990's? Quite honestly, much in part to having Nina as a part of my life, the issue of sexual preference has never really been an issue to me. (I hate the term "homosexual") To grasp the idea that it can be, or ever has been to others, is something completely intangible to me. I would like to say that others are closed minded or ignorant, but I can't even say that much about them. I think it is more that they are unfortunate. Unfortunate to not have had a Nina, a Heather, a Rob, or a Mike in their lives to show them that sexual preference does not define a person... a PERSON defines a person. How on EARTH does one piece of a VERY personal part of a persons life become the basis of such discrimination?
And that, my friends, is what leads me to my "violently purple hand". (Thanks for the terminology Laura!). On Halloween of 1969, sixty members of the Gay Liberation Front and the Society for Individual Rights gathered outside of the San Francisco Examiner building and staged a peaceful protest. The newspaper had been printing ant-gay articles against the local gay clubs and they were speaking out against it. During the protest, the people inside thought that it would be a good idea to dump purple printers ink from atop the building on them. Not cool!
Covered in ink, the protesters took the opertunity to scrawl "GAY PRIDE" on the building and stamp their handprints on the walls. (Good for them!). It became probably one of the most visible shows of pride and protest of the time. Unfortunately, when the authorities showed up and arrests were made, it was not the people that assaulted the protesters but the protestors themselves that were hauled in. There was, of course, quite a bit of police brutality toward all protesters... including women. Sickening really when you think about it.
Now, playing Devil's Advocate for just a moment... they DID mark up private property... but AFTER they were assaulted!!
I guess, for a time there was an attempt to use the "purple hand" as a symbol of gay pride but it didn't stick. I chose to use the symbol simply because it felt fitting for several reasons. One, it's almost Halloween now. Two, San Francisco is a hub for LGBTQ pride now. Three my degree is in journalism and Four... it's damn interesting!! So.. what are your thoughts?
