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Author Topic: I'm not normal  (Read 11714 times)

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Offline DanielMark

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  • Posts: 1,475
I'm not normal
« on: January 21, 2007, 07:26:03 am »
I'm not "normal" because I have HIV. I'm not "normal" because I am Gay.

What is "normal" anyway?

All my life I’ve heard that I am not normal because I’m not heterosexual. Well I’m not normal, but for other reasons. LOL

I can accept the judgement if it means I’m not in the majority of people, but so what? How does that make me inferior? They also tell me I am sick in the head because I am Gay.

Every day in every way I am bombarded by images of heterosexuality - TV, movies, advertising, music videos, and on and on ad nauseam. Whose idea of healthy is that?

Being Gay is normal for me because I am Gay. It’s only abnormal if you aren’t.

And while I'm on the subject, here's a song I wrote twelve years ago (1995) addressing this very topic. I wrote it during the time I realized my partner of ten years was still struggling with self acceptance of his sexuality, which broke my heart and led to the end of us as partners.

THE LOVE IN ME
(c) 1995

Audio version

Lie to me I’ll cry for you
Cure me of my faith in love
But you’re never gonna find a way to be unkind
That’s as strong as the love in me

Scheming only wears you down
You’ll be surprised when you realize
All the joy that’s coming to restore a love in you
As strong as this love in me

You’ll see midnight turn to morning
In the very hour you realize
Clouds of anger reigning over you
Were only worries in disguise

So lie to me I’ll cry for you
Cure me of my faith in love
But you’re never gonna find a way to change my mind
No mean old memories
As strong as the love in me

Daniel
MEDS: REYATAZ & KIVEXA (SINCE AUG 2008)

MAY 2000 LAB RESULTS: CD4 678
VL STILL UNDETECTABLE

DIAGNOSED IN 1988

Offline aztecan

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  • Posts: 5,530
  • 36 years positive, 64 years a pain in the butt
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2007, 07:55:24 am »
Hey Daniel,

I used to get a lot of that type of attitude from people. I don't seem to as much these days.

I don't know why, but it could be because I have let it be known I have no interest in joining the "normal" set.

This makes people nervous, even fearful. Its harder to pigeonhole people seen as living in alternative ways.

I am gay. I have HIV. I am a proud pagan. None of this calms the fears people have for those "outside the norm."

I delight in that. Let the others prattle and low as they are herded through life.

I, for one, am glad you're not "normal" Daniel.

HUGS,

Mark
"May your life preach more loudly than your lips."
~ William Ellery Channing (Unitarian Minister)

Offline skeebo1969

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2007, 08:16:40 am »


  Daniel,

   I just wanted you to know that some "normal" folk don't view you the way you think we do.   I for one know that a lot of gays don't like me just because I am not gay.  I have encountered it here.

   Let me tell you I am far from normal... actually I am a bit strange and I admit it.

   My choice of relationships also have come under scrutiny by family.  Actually truth be told I don't have family because of it.   They always deemed me a "Nigger Lover", I say fuck them I will love who I choose.   I have been jumped by a truck load of white guys just for who I am with.   My kids have been frowned upon by my brother and sister.  What did my kids do wrong?  Absolutely nothing in my book!  I go to a restaurant, especially here in hicksville and the looks my girl and I get have caused us to opt for take out, as we did this yesterday...

   Let me clarify this though, your struggle is far greater than mine.  That much I know.  I don't agree with America's stance on gay marriage.  You should be able to marry who you want.... 

   Just know this Daniel... Not all of the "normal" folk feel the way you think we do.   As long as we are OK with who we are that is all that matters. 

   I hope this is not misunderstood my friend.  I am not comparing the difficulties of interracial relationships to that of gay relationships and how they are viewed by the "normal" people.  They do have some similarities and those are few I know.

  As Mark has alluded briefly in his post, times are changing.  It just sucks that it has to be that way.   

  Just know this weird cat here is in your corner and thinks highly of you regardless...

  Peace,

  Thomas
I despise the song Love is in the Air, you should too.

Offline koi1

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2007, 08:23:36 am »
The problem with these feelings is that they are internalized for most of us. Even when we say that we fully accept ourselves. Whenever I go to the gay part of town which means going over some hills from where I live, I feel my stomach feeling weird, until it loosens up and I get diarrhea. What is amazing is that this has happened from the first time I went when I was 22 (late bloomer), and it still happens now that I am 36.

My family says they are okay with it, but I don't really believe them, since they are programmed for hetersexuality. I have a nephew who is about to turn two, and all they can rant and rave about was of how he chased this little girl he met. How he is just going to be such a ladies man.

So no, I think the best I can hope for is to be tolerated, even by my own family.

And yes things have progressed. However, in CA. you have to declare as income what the insurance policy is worth, should you decided to put your domestic partner on your health insurance and pay taxes on it, unless you are married of course.

rob
diagnosed on 11/20/06 viral load 23,000  cd4 97    8%
01/04/07 six weeks after diagnosis vl 53,000 cd4 cd4 70    6%
Began sustiva truvada 01/04/07
newest labs  drawn on 01/15/07  vl 1,100    cd4 119    7%
Drawn 02/10/07
cd4=160 viral load= 131 percentage= 8%
New labs 3/10/07 (two months on sustiva truvada
cd4 count 292  percentage 14 viral load undetectable

Offline koi1

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2007, 08:27:52 am »
Hi Thomas,

Sorry to hear about the nitwits in your town. You should really consider moving to a blue state for the sake
of your children. I wish Christian Rednecks would follow at least the part of the bible that says that God loves everybody.

rob
diagnosed on 11/20/06 viral load 23,000  cd4 97    8%
01/04/07 six weeks after diagnosis vl 53,000 cd4 cd4 70    6%
Began sustiva truvada 01/04/07
newest labs  drawn on 01/15/07  vl 1,100    cd4 119    7%
Drawn 02/10/07
cd4=160 viral load= 131 percentage= 8%
New labs 3/10/07 (two months on sustiva truvada
cd4 count 292  percentage 14 viral load undetectable

Offline DanielMark

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2007, 10:01:59 am »
Thanks, guys. Some days it just floors me that some people are so dim witted.



The problem with these feelings is that they are internalized for most of us. Even when we say that we fully accept ourselves...

My family says they are okay with it, but I don't really believe them, since they are programmed for hetersexuality. I have a nephew who is about to turn two, and all they can rant and rave about was of how he chased this little girl he met. How he is just going to be such a ladies man.

So no, I think the best I can hope for is to be tolerated, even by my own family.


Rob,

When I came out to my family at age 16 (I had left home by then but that's another story), my parents sent me to a shrink. So, I went.

I swear the guy was the spitting image of Freud. He told me to go home and look at some “girlie” magazines. Little did he know I had copies of Playgirl under my mattress. LOL In our small town there was no erotica for Gays and Lesbians then and likely still isn't.

When they called to ask how the appointment went I told my mother that the guy was a nut and wouldn’t be going back. Then my father got on the phone and said,

"If I ever see you on the street, I’ll run you over with the car.” Good parenting there dad.

Now I limit my contact with them to a weekly phone call to my mother. My relatives think they are okay and all is lala land. It's a total dysfunctional denial state lie.



Thomas,

I know not ALL heterosexuals are bigots. I have a friend who is in an interracial marriage and have heard the horror stories. He also has a Lesbian sister, which I would say, makes a difference in how he and I relate.



And Mark,

I am glad I'm not normal too. That would bore the hell out of me. LOL

Daniel
MEDS: REYATAZ & KIVEXA (SINCE AUG 2008)

MAY 2000 LAB RESULTS: CD4 678
VL STILL UNDETECTABLE

DIAGNOSED IN 1988

Offline twofires

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    • Artists Farm
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2007, 10:08:47 am »
Normal is as Normal does

I tell people in a normal way I make dildo harnesses when normally asked What do You do?

riding the edge of Normality, this is good for making the other person pause and think for a split second

so at least you get them actually THINKING....


Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline ACinKC

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2007, 10:24:46 am »
Normal sucks. 
LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT A
RIDE!!!

Offline twofires

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    • Artists Farm
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2007, 10:28:44 am »
Normal is a Prison
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline Miss Philicia

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  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2007, 10:37:54 am »
These are not healthy feelings to have.  Homosexuality is PERFECTLY NORMAL. 

go buy this book:  http://www.amazon.com/Biological-Exuberance-Homosexuality-Natural-Diversity/dp/0312192398
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline DanielMark

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2007, 10:43:34 am »
Well it's perfectly normal if you are one. ;)

Good book recommendation!
MEDS: REYATAZ & KIVEXA (SINCE AUG 2008)

MAY 2000 LAB RESULTS: CD4 678
VL STILL UNDETECTABLE

DIAGNOSED IN 1988

Offline Miss Philicia

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  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2007, 10:47:39 am »
And if they're Bible Thumpers send them to this movie (opens TODAY at Sundance!)

http://www.forthebibletellsmeso.org/
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline dtwpuck

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  • дано мне тело, что мне делать с ним?
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2007, 10:54:09 am »
I don't know what "normal" is.  I am not completely sure that I care anymore, at least inasmuch as it effects my life.  I learned as a child that I stood no chance of being happy if I spent any time at all worrying about the approval of others.   While I haven't always made the best choices in life, I at least feel that I didn't make those choices because I was overly concerned about fitting in.  I consider this attitude to be one of the greatest lessons I have ever learned and sincerely wish others understood this kind of liberation.

I am also convinced that gay people do not have a monopoly on feeling marginalized.   Just pick any of your heterosexual, married friends and look at their lives with a critical eye.  When you listen to the problems of others, it's actually really difficult to find someone, anyone, who qualifies as "normal".

We like to claim it's harder for homos because the norm in society is heterosexuality.  Or white.  Or christian.  Or what have you.  There will always be some kind of majority in every society.   But look around you ...  you will find that each person you know has some level of insecurity about where they fit in society.    As gays, at least we have an indentifiable group to which we can turn for support.  Being gay is thoroughly institutionalized these days.  While it isn't so easy to go running down the street in pumps and a feather boa in Goodland Kansas, at least we can rest comfortably in our assertion that people who choose to live in such a place couldn't possibly be considered "normal" as well. 

There is no magic ointment you can rub on your face to give you the self confidence to assess others' reactions to you in terms that do not cause you to evaluate your own "normalcy".  However, I can tell you that normal, whatever it is, is highly overrated.

So speaketh the multilingual tattooed freak with two MA's and a penchant for taking risks.

Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2007, 10:56:32 am »
begin by asking questions, end up finding your way back home
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline Life

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  • Member 2005
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2007, 11:01:38 am »
God, I love this thread.    ;D

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2007, 11:12:52 am »
while maintaining anti-normalcy I insist I am not mental
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline DanielMark

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2007, 11:15:24 am »
dtwpuck,

You raise some very important thoughts to consider.

Funny how the mind works isn't it?

As I just PM'd to someone:

What I didn't post publicly is that this whole train of thought about being singled out for being Gay came after reading that poll by the person called Seven. Maybe it's all for nothing, but it sent up a red flag for me, and brought memories flooding back. Like the incident with my father, but also how I was bullied and chronically beat up as a kid in school.

One should never dump the contents of their head in public before the sun rises. ;)

Daniel
MEDS: REYATAZ & KIVEXA (SINCE AUG 2008)

MAY 2000 LAB RESULTS: CD4 678
VL STILL UNDETECTABLE

DIAGNOSED IN 1988

Offline dtwpuck

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  • дано мне тело, что мне делать с ним?
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2007, 11:18:40 am »
Daniel...
The mind is a funny thing, but you get the best honesty, don't you think, when you are in an uninhibited space.  I appreciate the points that have come up in this thread and consider this kind of discussion to be highly valuable.

As far as early morning goes... it's my favorite time of day.
Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

Offline twofires

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    • Artists Farm
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #18 on: January 21, 2007, 11:19:17 am »
I spent awhile composing my post earlier, I invite you all to read something of the way 2000 year old gnostics used to think and do today

once called heretical, gnosis was never the norm

saves my sanity though...
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #19 on: January 21, 2007, 11:21:38 am »
Did you consider the fact that Seven, a straight female infected with HIV, might have started that thread because she doesn't feel "normal" posting on a board that is obviously tilted towards gay men?  Yes, this board is welcoming and represents a diverse spectrum of infected individuals, and certainly it's not all gay men but I would guess our numbers are disproportionate here.

I think she just wanted to know that there were other heterosexual women posting here, which is perfectly NORMAL of her to wonder.  Normality is relative, which is why it's a bogus concept to begin with.
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #20 on: January 21, 2007, 11:22:53 am »
now *that's* a twist!
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline LatinAlexander

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  • Bogota, Colombia
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #21 on: January 21, 2007, 11:46:52 am »
Normal... I am not Normal... I am gay.. I have HIV.. What could be normal in my life?.... On the other side, I have a fabulous sense of style.. I guess that is not normal either... eeww!!!!   Being normal is not that good I guess....

Alex

Poz since Jul 19 2006
Initial numbers : CD4-250 VL 3500
First labs after HAART (Dec 04-2006) : CD4-432 VL-<40 (Undetectable)  cd4%=25.11%
Started HAART: Combivir+Efavirenz Aug 26 7:38 pm
Feb 08 2007 - Gradually stopping HAART cause of Myalgia. Protecting Efavirenz. Stopped Efavirenz, ahead with Combivir....
February 17 Combivir stopped.
April 3 -07 : Started ddi+3tc+efavirenz...
Gay and positive (What a lack of Identity...:) )
Looking for my Ben....

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #22 on: January 21, 2007, 11:54:40 am »
I normally take a handful of meds every day
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline puertorico2006

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #23 on: January 21, 2007, 12:46:10 pm »
"Normal" is just an a base of ideas and ideals that you are raised learning.

Every culture, race, and family has a different view of what normal is.

The normal behavior of a someone on the other side of the world is different from people where you live. Some cultures are liberal, some conservative, and many in between.

Once you stop caring about what other people think and come to terms with who you are whether its "normal" or not then it doesnt bug you so much. Sometimes being different is what keeps us going (i for one dont usually like being part of the majority...i like being different)
Infected Probably: may 2005
Diagnosed: 11/2006

11/28/2006 CD4:309 / VL: 1907 No meds yet
12/27/2006 CD4:339/  VL:1649 No meds yet
  4/28/2007 CD4:550/  VL:1800 No meds :-)

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #24 on: January 21, 2007, 01:07:50 pm »
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline Miss Philicia

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  • celebrity poster, faker & poser
Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #25 on: January 21, 2007, 01:08:45 pm »
Oy... that's like a hippie version of an Eldon pic
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #26 on: January 21, 2007, 01:11:07 pm »
i'm a hippie!

a deadhead

a leathersmith

single.... ::)
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline bear60

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #27 on: January 21, 2007, 01:25:22 pm »
Daniel.....why not practice standing in front of a mirror and saying over and over and over and over:




I AM NORMAL AND I HAVE HIV, I HAVE HIV AND I AM NORMAL
Poz Bear Type in Philadelphia

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #28 on: January 21, 2007, 01:26:04 pm »
and

I'm Alive, I'm a Fighter, I'm a Survivor
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #29 on: January 21, 2007, 01:47:26 pm »
my name is philly267 and I am normal
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #30 on: January 21, 2007, 01:50:02 pm »
I am mostly water
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline Queen Tokelove

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #31 on: January 21, 2007, 04:46:45 pm »
Hmm, I don't consider myself to be normal, I consider myself to be me, a unique individual.
Started Atripla/Ziagen on 9/13/07.
10/31/07 CD4-265 VL- undetectable
2/6/08 CD4- 401 VL- undetectable
5/7/08 CD4- 705 VL- undetectable
6/4/08 CD4- 775 VL- undetectable
8/6/08 CD4- 805 VL- undetectable
11/13/08 CD4- 774 VL--undetectable
2/4/09  CD4- 484  VL- 18,000 (2 months off meds)
3/3/09---Starting Back on Meds---
4/27/09 CD4- 664 VL-- undetectable
6/17/09 CD4- 438 VL- 439
8/09 CD4- 404 VL- 1,600
01-22-10-- CD4- 525 VL- 59,000
Cherish the simple things life has to offer

Offline poet

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #32 on: January 21, 2007, 04:50:22 pm »
Daniel, when I lived in NYC, 'normal' depended upon where I was.  If I was walking down the street in the 'gay' part of the West Village or the 'gay' part of Chelsea, normal was gay.  Abnormal was straight.  If I wandered too far to the west in Chelsea, into the housing projects and Latino area, gay was no longer 'normal' and I could feel it, feel the point at which I had crossed a line.  If I, being white, went up to Harlem, I would also feel abnormal, but so would someone African-American walking down a street on the Upper Eastside, below the 100's in street numbers.  There was that middle point at which things could go either way, normal/abnormal.  P-town made gay 'normal' because we literally ran the town from the selectmen downward and while we lived in and among straight Portuguese, gay was the 'norm.'  And in work, it depended upon the job.  Barnes and Noble, no.  A Different Light, yes.  Being positive at P.W.A.C. or G.M. H.C., yes, positive was 'normal.'  Step out onto the Chelsea sidewalk, and gay was still 'normal,' but positive was not.  And when, God forbid, I am around my parents, I become this other person who used to be me.  It's a part of me.  I know what is happening in the transformation.  But to be 'normal' and to fade into the situation, I become 'their son, Win.'  Not their gay son.  So it's all the confusing merging and blending and finding to what degree or not we are willing and able to become 'normal' or 'abnormal.' Win
Winthrop Smith has published three collections of poetry: Ghetto: From The First Five; The Weigh-In: Collected Poems; Skin Check: New York Poems.  The last was published in December 2006.  He has a work-in-progress underway titled Starting Positions.

Offline Alain

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #33 on: January 21, 2007, 04:55:42 pm »
I am so normal! :-*

Offline marco23

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #34 on: January 21, 2007, 05:25:41 pm »
If you feel emotions....you're normal.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2007, 08:41:53 pm by marco23 »
Don't hide your hurt, pain and feelings inside..for they will harden your heart.

Offline DanielMark

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #35 on: January 21, 2007, 05:52:11 pm »
What you say is so true, Puertorico! “Normal” depends a lot on a person's point of reference.

Hetero sex is foreign to the core of my being. I tried dating the opposite sex in my teens (if only just to fit in), but it felt so "wrong" that I knew without a doubt which gender I am attracted to.

The suicide rate among Gay teens is way too high. I was nearly one of those statistics myself. I could have got a sham wife and lived the lie to please everyone else like some do. Instead, I stayed true to myself and my "honest heart." If that’s a crime then charge me as guilty.

Daniel
MEDS: REYATAZ & KIVEXA (SINCE AUG 2008)

MAY 2000 LAB RESULTS: CD4 678
VL STILL UNDETECTABLE

DIAGNOSED IN 1988

Offline Lis

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #36 on: January 21, 2007, 05:57:47 pm »
there was never a moment in my life that people thought i was normal..... (they didnt get the skin head bass player...)
we are who we ARE
poz 1986....

Offline ndrew

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #37 on: January 21, 2007, 06:13:16 pm »
Hey Daniel,

I sometimes feel the heteronormitive nature of the media and social environment, especially moving from LA to a small town in the midwest.  I like the term "hereronormative," a term first used by Michael Warner in an article called, " Introduction:  Fear of  a Queer Planet."

Listed as one of the first works of queer theory by Wikipedia- "In gender theory and queer theory, heteronormativity is the perceived reinforcement of certain beliefs by many social institutions and social policies. These beliefs include the belief that human beings fall into two distinct and complementary categories, male and female; that sexual and marital relations are normal only when between people of different sexes; and that each sex has certain natural roles in life. Thus, physical sex, gender identity, and gender roles should in any given person align to either all-male or all-female norms, and heterosexuality is considered to be the only normal sexual orientation. The norms this term describes or criticizes might be overt, covert, or implied. Those who identify and criticize heteronormativity say that it distorts discourse by stigmatizing alternative concepts of both sexuality and gender and makes certain types of self-expression more difficult."

Thanks for the interesting thread and all the great comments...

Drew

Offline Jerry71

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #38 on: January 21, 2007, 06:18:56 pm »
Daniel you should never feel that way. Also you can not please everyone in this world. You are who you are. Be proud you have a family that loves you no matter on here that is. To hell with the rest that can not except you for you. So be proud of your lifestyle and forget what others think of you in my eyes your a special individual. Remember this we may hiv but hiv does not have us and will not control our lives. I'm gay and also have hiv and I live day to day like it was just like the next.

Offline thunter34

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #39 on: January 21, 2007, 06:25:03 pm »
Some 'normal' definitions to consider here:


1.  Conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type; typical

2.  The usual or expected state, form, amount, or degree.

3.  An average

4.  Free from mental illness; sane


There are a few others, but they generally have to do with forming right angles and such.  It seems that, for the most part, what people deem as 'normal' is really just what is 'most common' to a given group.

(I was doing so well with these definitions until I hit #4.  But even the term 'sane' is subject to interpretation.)
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Offline Val

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #40 on: January 21, 2007, 06:56:00 pm »
Daniel,
Whenever I feel normal, I go either to the Faubourg Saint Honoré or to Avenue Montaigne and buy myself something very extravagant.  After that I go for tea at Ladurée and to Jean-Paul Gaulthier's.  To finish up the day I go chez Colette aka the Temple of abnormality ( a concept store)!

Jung said, back in 1966, that...""What we commonly mean by a 'normal person' is actually an ideal person whose happy blend of character is a rare occurrence..."" p.80

If there is one message that I would like to convey here is that  ""We are referred to/called gays""  So, let us not forget that!  Do not let anyone take away that innate joy and smile that all gay people have in their heart and soul!

Val
___
___
P.S.Do you think that Squawk and Milou, the two gay penguins at The Central Park in NYC are unhappy?
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Photography:
The word comes from the Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γραφίς graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφή graphê, together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines".

Offline aupointillimite

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #41 on: January 21, 2007, 06:57:03 pm »
"I am good therefore good is me
I am good therefore good is me
He's not me therefore he's not good.

Our norms are good
Good are our norms
Theirs aren't ours
Therefore are not good

Our god is true
True is our god
Their god's not ours so is not true

Impossible to consider the reality of the other
Other people's institutions aren't better or worse than others."

-"Good Is Me."  Stererolab.
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Offline twofires

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #42 on: January 21, 2007, 07:02:46 pm »
I am sane, I think
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline DanielMark

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #43 on: January 22, 2007, 07:28:12 am »
Quote from: ndrew
Hey Daniel,

I sometimes feel the heteronormitive nature of the media and social environment, especially moving from LA to a small town in the midwest.

I like that word Drew, heteronormitive. It says exactly what frustrates me when it comes right down to it. Thanks for introducing it to me.

An interesting aside: while watching TV last night, I saw an ad for the Toronto Star newspaper, showing various head shots of a mix of people, among them a shoulder shot of a man embracing another man from behind. Maybe there's hope for this world yet.  ;)

Daniel
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Offline bravebuddharich

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #44 on: January 22, 2007, 03:38:32 pm »
Great thread!

My late father used to scream at me "ACT NORMAL!" as he was attempting to beat the homosexuality out of me! He was convinced if I'd only live my life exactly as he had, I'd be "happy". Truth is, I'm not happy, dont' really believe in all that pursuit of happiness jazz - if you are too happy you are turning a blind eye to all of the evil dominator model insanity in this world. Instead, I try to find joy here and there, and try to foster a partnership model of sanity in this world wherever I can. I prefer joy to happiness - it's a Buddhist thing, I'm sure!

Offline Miss Philicia

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #45 on: January 22, 2007, 03:41:17 pm »
eek... thank god my parents indulged my insistence on eternal sand art making and impersonating Gene Rayburn at the age of 11!
"I’ve slept with enough men to know that I’m not gay"

Offline Ihavehope

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #46 on: January 22, 2007, 03:45:21 pm »
I was watching tv one day and some mediocre actor who was being interviewed said somehting that makes sense:

The reporter asked the actor if he was happy now that he was married with kids and rich. The actor basically said " There is no such thing as happiness" then he giggled. " I am not sure why people want to presume to be happy at all times, I like everyone else have problems and when my problems less then I am happy but happiness only last for an instant because a new problem will arise soon enough."  then the reporter was like why are you being pessimistic and the actor said " I am not being pessimistic, I am answering your vague question, happiness are instant moments that must be enjoyed then and there, because it won't last forever, therefore being happy last minutes".
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Offline DanielMark

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #47 on: January 22, 2007, 04:09:06 pm »
... instant moments that must be enjoyed then and there, because it won't last forever ....

Well whoever that actor was, I agree completely, which is why I often say nothing lasts forever – not the good nor the bad.

My late father used to scream at me "ACT NORMAL!" as he was attempting to beat the homosexuality out of me!


 ;D
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Offline ACinKC

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #48 on: January 22, 2007, 04:12:11 pm »
LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT A
RIDE!!!

Offline allopathicholistic

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Re: I'm not normal
« Reply #49 on: January 22, 2007, 04:14:43 pm »
My late father used to scream at me "ACT NORMAL!" as he was attempting to beat the homosexuality out of me!

wow.  :'(

 


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