Jun 26, 2011

An Empire State of Mind




Pride 2011 was the 42nd Gay Pride Day, the 42nd year since gay consciousness was birthed via the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, NYC. Since the number 42 is associated with rainbows, it seems like a double rainbow kind of day.

A few days ago the Empire State went officially for gay marriage by a 33-29 vote, and I’m not really sure how I feel about gay marriage becoming legal in the death star, since well, aren’t we supposed to destroy the Empire? Maybe we destroy it from within, or maybe it can never really be destroyed, and even Eros, like every other archetype, is just joining his place in the collective consciousness, now subject to taxes, child support and bankruptcy lawsuits like all the rest. An outlaw no more.

Back in the 70’s, Harry Hay and the radical faeries dreamt that homos could be a source or catalyst of spiritual change and they had real issues with integration into the straight or even lesbian/feminist political spectrum. He saw it as capitulation and an eventual road to ruin, and of course he was right. Most gay men are not really interested in overthrowing the empire, we just want to get along. I mean, if I can get married according to Empire laws with all the benefits therein, and if corporations like Starbucks, Macy’s and Absolut Vodka officially march in our parades and sponsor us, well... that can only be a good thing, am I right?

Harry Hay would shake his head like Yoda and say “Little one, do you not see the snares that are laid all about you? You were born with one hand free of the Emperor’s shackles, do not be so quick to give it back.”

While I find the 42 year old history of modern gay consciousness to be personally fascinating, I don’t think homos are special, or Jews, Christians, whites, blacks, reds, blues or anyone. Or more accurately, I think we’re all pretty damn special, and we're all playing a role in this saga of humanity - the story of us re-membering who we really are.

In Class of the Titans, it took 7 teens and 7 gods/archetypes (7+7=14) to finally defeat Chronus, AKA Saturn, Time, Death. The seventh teen was Neil, AKA Narcissus. Neil is of course, gay, self-absorbed and annoying as hell, but he has the gift of luck, so he’s good to have around.



So here we are. At the end of time, finally re-assembled. All fourteen parts, gathered together by Isis. The butterfly trembles...

UPDATE: I guess I wasn't the only one in Seattle with doubts about integration into the empire.

'Anarchists' create overnight havoc on Capitol Hill


4 comments:

Alan Abbadessa-Green said...

Great post. Such mixed emotions all around. The politicians and corporate sponsors sure know how to make your point for you.
Then there's new like this: It Stinks, but it also Syncs.

51 gay pride floats vandalized in Chicago:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/06/27/was-vandalism-of-pride-parade-floats-a-hate-crime/

Michael said...

Yea, I think "conflicted" is my middle name right now.

51 floats that are sunk? Amazing.

Christopher Myers said...

Interesting read man. Gonna have to look up that Clash of the Titans bit. I had a friend once who would say he saw rainbows when he smoked week. Seemed like a real closet case to me. He was also the most Narcissistic dude you would ever meet. and he lived on Narcissus Ave. He even moved out of his house in another when he got older on the same street. Gonna go do my research....

I slip in here every now and then, sometimes the pics are a little to gay(no offense) for me to make it through the post. I had to see what you said about the parade and 42. I didn't know it was the 42nd, that really means something, least I think. Have you seen the new rainbow number chart I created? May be something here for you to use or maybe it will make somethings click for you http://img7.imagebanana.com/img/pyrjcrg2/20110619_173954.jpg

Peace

Michael said...

QO - thanks for stopping by. It's CLASS of the Titans - a cartoon series that is pretty lame but also resonating for me right now. Watch it on Youtube.

Thanks for the handy rainbow color/number reference chart - useful, I think.

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