So... you'll be fine, just shut up and don't remind us you're here?
No. Note I said *openly* live. Please don't put words in my mouth, nor twist my words to mean something completely different.
Looks like this issue is another case of "you must be completely all in acceptance of all of this or you must be completely all in opposed to all of this." Can one not look at the issue and see mostly good, but point out a few possible problems?
What's wrong with being flamboyant in public?
Nothing for the individual. But if you are participating in something as a representative of a greater group for the overall purpose of garnering general acceptance by the general public, doing things to stand out as "weird" (distinctly different than normal) doesn't engender general acceptance by those who see that as weird.
Which is likely to bring comic book fans more acceptance as a generally normal culture?
This:
or this:
We, on the inside of the culture, see those cosplayers as fun fans, having fun. We even celebrate them. To people on the outside of the culture, (20 years ago), they are weird, loser, geeks. Comic geekdom has become far more accepted/mainstream because the general public has seen that we aren't all the negative stereotypes that media used to portray us as.
And I truly think gays have become more accepted in general society than they used to be because "normal" people have seen enough "normal" gays in their life to learn that the "we're here and we're queer!" types aren't the normal representatives of a gay person. Kids coming out to their parents nowadays don't put the fear in their parents of them suddenly completely changing into a flamboyant drag queen.
Which is a better representative for "gay pride"?
This:
or this:
Bullgrit