This video is more than just a coming out video. It is the climatic point of a five month journey in which a US military serviceman shows his face in the light of the repeal of DADT just made. Under the account of AreYouSurprised on YouTube, this young man has made videos documenting his experience (headlessly and anonymously) as a gay man in the military -- telling his close friends, going through the mandatory DADT Repeal Training, turning 21, and everything in between. And get this . . . he's from Alabama as well. (Oh and he's very cute.) I'm all smiles watching this today and I think you will be too.

Over and Out,
CampusQueer

Gurl I've still got my sunglasses on and a Starbucks in my hand as I've just returned from a hellaciously gay ole time in N'aawwwlins, Lessianna for Southern Decadence 2011. Hunty I saw things there that would put Michele Bachmann into a conservative coma for 22 years and she'd wake up to find a gay US supreme court justice making it rain glitter all over the Constitution. Yes, SD11 was one for the books and that book needs to be burned. Beyond the alcohol abuse, boys on the bar, and general disregard for public indecency laws, I was able to find the education in my surroundings. Yes, it's there. You have to stay at just the right buzz level to see it.

What is really amazing about events like SD is the feeling of being in a crowd on a street and not feeling in any way like the minority. Someone special once described the feeling they got this year at Pensacola Pride like this and it really is spectacular if you take just five seconds to realize it. We weren't tucked into a bar for a couple nights a week and then expected to assimilate the next morning. No, it was glitter 24/7 as far as the eye could see. And not just because of the glitter literally in my eye. My sister whom I've yet to meet but hear is quite the lady, Miss Daisy GlammourHammour Kardashian was said to have caused a stir in the streets. Where else can a drag duchess ('cause she definitely ain't no queen from what I hear) walk the streets in daylight, have brunch, and administer flu shots to the elderly without the slightest of upset? Oh, anywhere beyond Bible Belt? My bad. Anygay, it's those moments that remind you that there is a gay culture beyond ourselves. We aren't alone. There is life on other planets called California and New York City. And sometimes they visit. With anal probes.


What is also interesting is the subcultures. You know they exist too, but we are rarely immersed in them in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Most of our gay culture only revolves around drag queen performances and wearing fratty clothes even at the gay bar. We don't really like stepping outside the conservative norms around here. We tiptoe at best. But even tiptoe-ing moves you forward and that's the most we can ever ask for. Besides, we are in a college town and have just begun building our own gay identities for the most part and have our whole lives to figure out who we are. So next time you are at a LGBT pride event, be sure to sip your vodka Redbull a little slower and really take it all in. Watch the circles of subcultures all playing together. We really are beautiful.


Over and Out,
CampusQueer