This train of thought is inspired by, but ultimately unrelated to, watching Ellen Degeneres give a commencement speech.
Ellen Degeneres came out in 1997, when I was 16. Will and Grace first aired in 1998, when I was 17. Both were crucial to opening my mind. It was huge to see that these people are queer and...they were there, they were people, not much happened. Before this, I had never heard homosexuality spoken of as anything but A Problem, but suddenly it was just quietly there.
I graduated from university in 2003. It is now 2009. The people who are graduating from university this year were 10 when Ellen came out and 11 when Will and Grace first aired. They may or may not have been old enough to be aware of queerness before these TV shows.
The people who are graduating from high school this year were 6 when Ellen came out and 7 when Will and Grace first aired. They weren't even old enough to grok the concept of sexuality, never mind homosexuality. No mental shift necessary. Their homophobic parents must look like Archie Bunker to them.
Ten years from now, my generation of people who were still young enough to have experienced this cultural shift in adolescence will be pushing a respectable 40. The majority of all adults will have spent their entire adult life with queerness as no big deal, and Will and Grace will look like a minstrel show.
We're going to get there.
1 comment:
Definitely. Unfortunately bigotry never completely dies out, or there would be no racism or sexism in integrated societies by now. But it's going to become more and more rare, and weird. Good post.
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