Can you Be Gay if Ya Look Straight?

Any queer gals here who claim to have no interest or involvement in gay culture, however for some reason they aren’t able to sit correctly, they wear the most bizarre dangly earrings, and they have some female singer’s bum on display in their bedrooms?

Because we all know that it is a lot more than this. Basically LBGT+ people in the UK have only recently been given the same legal rights as everyone else. Meanwhile we know that there are countries where to this day they don’t have any of these rights still, while even in the UK just because there are equal rights, there is still so much prejudice apparent. Therefore it is only natural really that LGBT+ people are going to want to group together having things in common with one another.

The History of Gay Culture

It was toward the end of the 1800s when “drag balls” began emerging, then by the mid-1920s, at the height of the Prohibition era, they were attracting as many as 7,000 people. Meanwhile gay men had established a presence in Harlem and the bohemian mecca of Greenwich Village, New York whilst the city’s first lesbian enclaves appeared  in Harlem and the Village. Meanwhile New York may have been the epicenter of the so-called “Pansy Craze,” where gay, lesbian and trans people often dominated nightspots. There was a backlash however to this culture in the 1930s during the Great depression. Then in 1969 came a turning point for gay liberation, when  “patrons of the popular Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village fought back against ongoing police raids of their neighborhood bar.” The Gay liberation movement continued throughout the 1970s, causing an emergence of political organisations who were often at conflict with one another. gay and lesbian church and synagogue congregations, meanwhile many LGBT+ celebrities used their voices to campaign for gay rights. Obviously I haven’t included everything as there is so much to it and of course it would vary in different areas.

How it Looks Now

So now there is still a strong bound within LGBT culture. As an example, this year (2020) when pride marches were cancelled, there were still many virtual pride events. And while gay culture nowadays probably isn’t dominated by drag queens (although of course they still exist), there are still events which do seem to attract predominately LGBT+ people, while there are many features which are largely associated with gay culture. These may include fan bases at particular concerts, or could even simply about not being able to sit straight, wearing slightly odd earrings or not being able to dress appropriately for the weather! And though this may seem rather unimportant, these things do bond people together.

What we do Have in Common

So anyone today could quite easily say this is all as a result of a long cultural development. Because come on, LGBT+ culture is very much alive today, therefore LGBT+ people are naturally going to be influenced by it. However in-spite of all the progress that has been made in showing that LGBT+ people are the same as everyone else, could it be true that some may actually be inclined to act in a certain way, and therefore exhibit certain characteristics?

However the sense of togetherness within the LGBT+ culture is probably more important, especially considering how recent some of the movements toward equality have been, and when thinking about it, even somewhere like the UK there is still a long way to go before things can be perfectly equal.

Should it Still Be?

We know there are some, lets say gay people who you many would immediately know were gay. However there are others who you just wouldn’t guess. But of course, they are both really united in the same way. The cultural importance of LGBT+ cannot be underestimated, as many are still marginilised and most I would say are still trying to find the confidence to “come out”. Therefore the sense of community LGBT+ culture has to offfer cannot be underestimated. Nevertheless at the end of the day, it is up to every individual to decide how much they want to partake in it.