A personal note

Of course, as we learned years ago, the personal is political.

We've heard this a lot in the past few years, and even more in the days since basketball player Jason Collins came out to the world. "I don't care what anybody does, but why do they have to throw it in our face like that?"

Whenever I hear that it's a heterosexual saying it. And I know they're heterosexual, because for some reason heterosexuals don't have a problem with flaunting their heterosexuality.


I know I don't.

For instance, I wear a ring that my wife put on my finger almost thirty-seven years ago and has never been off, and it tells the world that I am married.

Whenever I meet someone it's rarely more than about five minutes before I mention my wife, or something my sons or their wives are doing, or what my wife and I did on the weekend, or some other way of flaunting my heterosexuality.

The federal government knows I'm heterosexual because I flaunt my heterosexuality every time I file an income tax return. So does the state government, and even my town government, because every time I've bought a piece of real estate I have proclaimed to the world that my wife and I have bought it "as husband and wife".

Even on Facebook if you look me up you'll see my marital status, pictures of me with my wife and our sons, wedding pictures. Lots of pictures of other heterosexuals doing what heterosexuals do.

Maybe they're right. Maybe we should have a law to prevent me from flaunting my heterosexuality.

Oh, and one last thing: if you want to be a bigot and proclaim it to the world, maybe you should think twice the next time you say that gay people you don't like should stop "shoving it down your throat".