Formspring: What do you see as the biggest differences in US and Norwegian gay culture?

The biggest differences I see between US and Norwegian gay cultures are that:

1) gay and lesbian persons in Norway have achieved acceptance within some conservative groups, such as the Conservative Party. In the US, the main "conservative" political organization, the Republican Party, has yet to reconcile its professed desire for less government intervention in citizens' private lives with its policies on gay and lesbian citizens (where it instead appeals to authoritarian Christian groups).

Along this line, LGBTQ persons in Norway have also enjoyed the support of Norwegian anarchists and anti-establishmentarian youth, who have been effective in pushing back against the anti-gay Neo-Nazi groups in Norway.

2) that Norwegian gay culture is much smaller and feels more homogenized, ensuring a greater melding of the gay subcultures. Because of this, it's very easy to be exposed to other gay subcultures once you've been exposed to one. An example of this is the major Norwegian gay social network (which also doubles as the primary gay hook-up network), Gaysir, which combines LGBTQ news, information, and contact possibilities; it is also an outlet for organizations trying to contact LGBTQ persons.

3) the Norwegian state has actively engaged gay organizations to ensure improvements in Norwegian gay life. It financially supports these organizations, such as Gay & Lesbian Health Norway, and adds liasions between the organizations and relevant state ministries and agencies. This also includes pro-active intervention, such as the current law that prohibits HIV-positive individuals from having sex without condoms. I don't know to what extent US state and federal governments do this.

Formspring: If you could change one thing about your high school experience, what would it be?

I would have come out as gay earlier so that I could experience being honestly gay during my teens. By staying in the closet, I prevented myself from experiencing teen romance and teen first-time sex. Being closeted also brought about frustration in much of my life, frustration that without which I would have been better off.

However, this frustration gave me information I have had and will still have use for in understanding other gay boys / men and their difficulties in embracing their sexuality.

The Day of Silence v. The Day of Speech

Today is the Day of Silence, a day commemorating the silencing of LGBTQ persons and their supporters. I disagree with the idea that we should be silent today; these symbolic displays leave too much unsaid, unspecified for those not in the know. Rather, this should be a Day of Speech, when we verbally come out against our silencing and address the idiocy that discriminates against us.

Academic pre-musing

LGBTQ-hostility: is it normative, or is it a development?

I want to explore the sources of LGBTQ-hostility. I suspect that it is not a historically normative social construction, but rather a development largely brought about the European (and possibly other) colonial hegemonies. I think that the spread or intensification of LGBTQ-hostility* may have been a two-layer smear: the first layer is the direct, Euro-Christian doctrine against LGBTQ persons; the second layer is the victimization and the sense of victimization on the part of colonized persons and cultures, who may then adopt the LGBTQ-hostility in an attempt to regain pride / manhood / overcompensatory dignity (in effect, adopting or permitting the greater influence of Euro-Christian doctrine as a salve against Euro-Christian violations).

Any suggestions?

* in my own raising within a LGBTQ-hostile environment, I have difficulty fully conceiving of or expecting that there environments or communities that have been or that are sufficiently LGBTQ-neutral or -accepting to be considered non-LGBTQ-hostile.

Edit: explanation of star

To be (open) or not to be (open)...

In our communities, the choice of being "open" (outwardly honest) about one's homosexual and homophilic orientations (or their bi counterparts) is controversial, though largely lauded (on the grounds of personal integrity). Upon "coming out," the individual increases our outwardly known number and presumably takes on a pro-LGBTQ persona, as a means of supporting and legitimizing our oft-oppressed identities. The person also claims an identity we hold intimate and dear (to varying extents), which we support.

I do not know when or the details of how it developed, but at one point, individuals within and sections of our communities developed an aggressive promotion of this choice. Instead of acknowledging "openness" as a choice, with great variance among our potential members, they increasingly demand "openness" and that everyone participate in the ritual of LGBTQ-aberrance confession (more on that issue later). Their reasoning tends to go along what I detailed above, though with the accusation that the not-"open" person negatively affect us as communities.

While I can empathize with their frustration and the militancy, I cannot and will not stand with them on this.

From my own experience with coming out and with the boundaries I set toward other persons' demands of me, I feel that all those who are not "out" are entitled to similar breadth and to the chance and choice to define themselves. I do not have any claims to anyone else's identification*. While I can identify and judge other persons from my perpective, I cannot demand that they acknowledge and take that identification or judgment in on themselves (Norwegian phrasing).

Our identities are personal, and intruding in on someone's identification is a violation against their being**.

Instead, I will be upfront on how not hiding my orientation has been a relief and how I feel more united and secure since I began honestly identifying myself with my orientations. By being examples, we can show the potential joy and the possibility for societies and communities where LGBTQ persons need not cower or fear due to their LGBTQ identity or identification.


*though I will make such claims in exceptional cases, such as unveiling someone who actively attacks LGBTQ communities as part of compensation within a submission to LGBTQ-hostile paradigms (a la Ted Haggard and Senator Craig)

**mind you, point out inconsistencies is not a form of intrusion; pointing out the structural flaws in a wall do not mean that you have breached it

"Gay musings" by Nick

Hey there!

I will use this blog as my venue for blogging on gay- / LGBT-specific issues, where I an LGBT target audience. Examples of issues I want to discuss: the posting of face pictures in net-profiles, the gender identification and gender aspects "debate", the open relationships vs. closed relationships ranting, and any other gay and LGBT issue that strikes me.

Part of the reason I am starting this is in response to forum discussions and attacks; I invest quite a bit of time working on my responses, and I am not content with having them eventually buried and forgotten due to new threads.

Cheers!