The Adventures of Jessica Sideways

I would like to say that there is a lot of inherent beauty in the gay community and I have seen this personally, but the party yesterday for the volunteers at Pridefest was another manifestation. I went to the party and I met quite a few people that were behind the scenes. People who helped to make sure that Pridefest went off without a hitch. Rahn Anderson (the volunteer coordinator) and the new executive director of the Colorado LGBT Centre were there. And it was held at the Denver Film Society’s theatre in the Tivoli building at Auraria Campus. There were all sorts of wonderful people from the Centre and other organizations such as Dikes on Bikes. And there were drawings for prizes (I won a board game - DICK-tionary and a Pridefest polo shirt that I’ll probably wear because it does not look feminine enough) and a movie was shown at the celebration. Before the movie was about to start, one of the people from the Denver Film Society came up to me and asked me to move to another seat that she pointed out. I found it weird but okaaay, whatever. And she announced that there were two memberships to the Denver Film Society that could be won, and then I soon found out why she wanted me to move my seat.

After this presentation, the film started and it was a documentary about the relationship between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy. The movie was called Chris&Don and it was absolutely beautiful because it showed the two coming together and how they supported and loved one another, despite their age difference. And plus, they were the one of the very few out couples in Hollywood at the time, so that made their relationship even more visible. This movie was a complete manifestation of the love that many gay and lesbian people have in committed relationships. Sure, there are also relationships that get it so terribly wrong and have two people who just cannot get along paired up with one another. It happens to straight couples too. But this movie showed me the awe of how beautiful a gay relationship with all of it’s details, warts and idiosyncrasies can be. Rahn was the only one in our party who knew what the film was and what it was about and I have to thank him profusely for not telling me (or any of us at the party for that matter) because it helped me to drop my expectations and experience the movie in all of it’s awe and wonder.

So, what does this have to do with the inherent beauty of the gay community? Well, if nothing else than this is the relation. We are here, supporting one another and fighting for equal rights for one another. It is true that in the past, there were people who were gay and had a horrible streak of transphobia. But what I have seen in the gay community that I live in is that it is dying down now and that gay people are being welcomed to the table, albeit with a few hiccups by gay rights organizations that have not learned to help others get human rights just yet. However, I believe that the majority of people in the gay community care about the equal rights and dignities of one another. This allows us to be seen fighting together and forging strong and vital friendships which help us get through the rough seasons of life. So, yes, there is a lot of inherent beauty in the gay community. And I become shocked and appalled how anyone can see what we do and how we are that they can say that we are evil or perverted. But hey, it is the God delusion acting up again, eh?