20 Something: On it being hard being Gay

Ah, a fresh new look to my blog… and a fresh new start, a new era… there is a reason why everything has changed,

Speaking of a new things Mithly.com is about to launch in a couple of days, it’s an online gay Arab magazine in two languages (Arabic & English). It’s going to cover a variety of topics from sex, health, music, fashion, the scene of the Arab cities, sociology and so forth. It is a definite read as it is informative as it uncensored and thought provoking,

I think I should change my career and become a PR agent.

Anyhow today’s blog topic, for the past weekends I have travelled to Egypt (I currently reside in Saudi Arabia, but I am an Egyptian) and met up with a couple of friends, then one of my friends introduced me to another friend of his who has issues and wanted me to like talk to him … let call his friends Mr. Confused.

Mr. Confused had some issues with breaking with up a guy, basically withdrawal issues, he couldn’t stop talking to him even after the broke up, and every time they talked, Mr. Confused would be hurt… so I tried to approach him from the philosophy of why go after something that causes you so much agony, shouldn’t you just go steer away from it instead of causing pain to yourself.

I am not here to write about why did he break up or what he should do to get through this mess break up. When I asked confused why you still talk to him, he said and I quote “because I feel sorry for him, its hard being gay here”. When I heard him say that I went mental on his ass. Now that’s today’s topic.

I am not going to deny the fact that it is relatively hard here to be gay, as coming out and all that stuff… but hey I lived here and I did come out to some friends … maybe I am special case or part of a rare thing. But the excuse the guy used he said it in a way like we are gay we have our own problems in relationship.

Out of experience of years helping my straight friends through their relationships and giving advice.. or providing a shoulder for the straight guy to cry on. I noticed something, there is no difference between our problems and there its always the same, and if he is going to use this excuse of its being hard of being gay then nobody should ever break up with another person just out of pure guilt. They also do have problems in social issues just like we do…

The fact that we are gay, true makes it harder for us to express ourselves, since the social acceptance of it isn’t that high on the list. But if we start to cave in to this, if we start saying oh I cant because its hard, then what the hell will we accomplish, will we just be hidden in the shadows, NO I DON’T THINK SO. There is two reasons why I came out to my friends, one is to feel more myself around them and stop lying, the second is to educate them, they had a huge misconception of gay people in Egypt, thinking that they don’t exist and maybe only on a number counted on the hand, and those who are gay are just feminine ones, they didn’t think there exist other than the feminine scene. I have introduced them to another two of my gay friends. And its like their whole homophobia went away… not that they were homophobic, they where just homo-illiterate.


So to conclude today’s rambling and on going talk, don’t ever let the excuse its harder for us gay people stop you from doing anything… especially if its something trivial as breaking ties with an old obsessive ex, who just uses and drags the energy out of your soul





Regards,
S.