on being gay

“The thing you need to know is, it’s all about sex.”

These are the opening words in the US series premier of Queer as Folk, and yes, the first and last thing you should know is that it’s all about sex. Being gay is a sexual predisposition - one in which lots of people find themselves attracted to the same sex.

Modern society has traditionally shunned homosexuality, sometimes leading to situations which finds people imprisoned or where those who are persecuted end their lives. Such a prime example would be that of Alan Turing, the mastermind of modern computing. Turing devoted his life to creating machines to crack Axis codes during the war, and it was such ended by his own hands after the British government forced him to repress who he was by forcing chemical castration upon him.

Because of this for me personally, being gay feels like the ultimate rebellion against a society that was predominantly against it and was pivotal in shaping me as an intellectual and free-thinker. Being told you can’t be one way when you undoubtedly are. There’s a reason they call it “be gay, do crime” - it’s because it was illegal at some point, and still is in some places in the world.

All in all, people are strange and come in all types.