When I was young...

When I was young, if your parents found out you were gay, they would often disown you, and kick you out of the house to live on the streets. If they were religious, they might send you to "Pray the Gay Away" camp to undergo aversion therapy. If they were more scientifically minded, they might send you to a mental hospital to be heavily medicated. In some instances, gays there would undergo electroshock therapy, and even lobotomies.

Now, same sex marriages are legally recognized across the entire nation and most of the civilized world. Many churches perform same sex weddings and have married gay clergy. Now, not only is homosexuality no longer classified as a mental illness, homophobia IS.

When I was young, gay celebrities had to remain in the closet, and even have pretend marriages, like Rock Hudson. Even obviously gay celebrities could not officially acknowledge they are gay.

Now, the most popular daytime talkshow host is a lesbian, and one of the most popular network news anchors is a gay man. Now, many young and trendy stars pretend to be bisexual to add to their cool factor.

Originally, neither political party supported LGBT rights. Then, the Democrats gave us lip service, mostly because they knew there was no way we were going to vote Republican. Then the Democrats started to truly fight for our rights. Now, many Republicans feel free enough to speak out in favor of LGBT equality; even while being bigoted towards other groups.

I feel proud in how far we have come in such a relatively short amount of time, from a group of drag queens in New York fighting against police brutality at the Stonewall bar, to the supreme court recognizing our equality.

I know this sounds odd, but I am even proud we have created Milo Yiannopoulos, a white gay man who has reached the point where his white privilege is greater than his gay stigma, allowing for him to be a voice for bigots everywhere. Imagine if all minorities, one by one, could be accepted by the hate groups- then they would have no one left to hate.