Okay Jamie thank you - you've steered this thread back towards it's original point, which is that there are tremendous obstacles to overcome in the gay community as well as in the wider world.
The campaign I'm volunteering for now is the most intensive I've ever seen and now is the first time I've ever been really highly visible for my LGBT activism, and - wow! It's emotionally exhausting, and we've only just begun! I was not prepared for the fact that I have an emotional reaction after every public coming-out, whether it was my first public speech last month, or interviews with journalists, sometimes even just from sharing with my fellow volunteers at our meetings. . .afterward, I feel all kinds of negative emotions I wasn't expecting: anxiety, fear, insecurity, self-doubt, a feeling like I've "transgressed" against what my mother taught me about speaking out for gay rights. Ay yi yi! It's scary being out there in the political scene. Much scarier than just coming out to your friends, and that can be scary enough.
Everyone has their natural temperment, and there are certain things one personality can handle that another person can't, and so on. Besides "apathetic" gays who are unwilling to be involved politically out of something like laziness or selfishness, there must be massive numbers of LGBT people who simply haven't got the leftover resources, emotional, financial, whatever, to involve themselves in a struggle. Just coming out is a struggle, and day to day living can be a struggle.
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