put this up here in the hopes it would get noticed - i think it's important, but i'm basically speaking from a personal perspective, and some experience.

i think people - individually - are ready for the truth.

i think you're approaching this, when you say: In the case of homosexuality, it's acceptance may be traced back to a single event: the point at which it broke the taboo and became openly discussed (by people? by the media?). A chain reaction followed: it dimished ignorance, which diminished fear and hate (the claim that ignorance leads to fear leads to hate), which in turn led to the diminishing of homophobia.

how long have we been in the news now, not just current events, but dredged up and rehashed whenever there's a blank to fill?

how often are we the butt of comedy routines, background and foreground characters in dramas, cop shows, america's most wanted - even shoot-em-ups, since we're such popular targets?

i'd say that chain reaction has been going on a while, and you know...

people are funny. you can only villify the enemy so long, before he starts becoming a sympathetic figure, the minor hero. germans used to be the bad guys, when i was a kid, now they're cool, cutting edge drama, and these days they don't lose the war, they wind up bonding with the allies. same goes for the russians, the japanese, even the jews, and america's traditional enemy, the american indian.

i believe this is where we're at - the new avant guarde, appearing on tv next season, if not already.

i'm saying this because, in my experience, one on one, i get accepted almost every time i open my mouth, and i do that a lot, almost every chance i get.

but people are funny, and the problem is it's not me they're worried about, it's what other people will think, because everybody knows paeds are sick and evil, and they don't have my experience, my agenda, to show them it's not so.

they don't compare notes, and they're not about to stick up for us, in company - they all toe the line, yeah, paeds are sick, because each is afraid what the other will think.

i get it all the time - you're ok by me, but for god's sake don't quote me, and please don't tell my friends that i know about you.

that's why we need to get out there - not debating, not defending, not trying to be prove anything, or bitching and whining - just out there, being ourselves, putting a face on the reality.

on one hand we need to be doing this for ourselves, for community, and for culture, for support and encouragement, but on the other it is equally important that we do it for society, making it ok for them to admit they like us, that they think we're ok.

they do - honest - at least in canada, around here...

is it really so bad, where you live?

how do you know?