goeth before a fall, they say. so a few notes on sexual liberation in honor of pride. remember the vagaries and extraordinary demands of desire. remember harry hay. remember the cockettes.

Harry Hay

remember the dream of freedom – not mere equality. remember that the real mob at stonewall were mostly, “…teenagers from Queens, Long Island and New Jersey, with a few young drag queens and homeless youths who squatted in abandoned tenements on the Lower East Side.” it wasn’t the corporate, button-down assimilationists who started it all. remember sexual fluidity and the culture wars over the appropriation of sex in the interest of power. remember that desire can and does change over time. there are no absolutes, there is no finality, that the oppositional dyadic model of human sexuality is a construct designed to enforce strict gender and sexual roles in the interest of moral and political power – not a move towards individual freedom in a civilized society.  remember the people who came before, who fought and died, remember the millions of oppressed, tortured, punished, exiled, humiliated and persecuted queers of all kinds all over the world who dream of living as freely as you do. remember those who will come later who will need to be reminded of the journey from slavery to freedom. remember that you are responsible for what is yet to come and as you drink and dance and celebrate how proud you are – look closely at what you truly can be proud of , what you have done to earn your pride in who you are. What have you done to help others? What have you done to help those who are to follow?  And if you can point to nothing than take a moment and think about what you might want to do, after the parades, after the parties, after the dancing and drinking and drugging and fucking – what are you going to do are you ready to do to help change the world?