Today I got an e-mail from the folks at In The Life about their January episode. Somehow they thought their coverage of guys having sex in bathrooms related to me somehow…

I watched the episode on the web (it’s not out yet, so you guys have to wait to see it), but there were a couple of stories in the episode that resonated with me. They had one segment on what the Bible really says about homosexuality. As a former fundamentalist Christian I didn’t think they got it quite right, but it’s important that they cover how some gay people find a balance between their faith and their sexuality. They related a story about a kid who was ready to commit suicide ’cause he felt like he couldn’t please god as a gay guy – he’d bought the gun and the ammo, but then saw the topic on their program and realized that there were places out there where he could be both gay and Christian. While I took another path from Christianity, I’m glad there are people out there like In The Life who people like the kid can relate to.

But the segment that was most appropriate was the story on guys having sex in bathrooms. Guys – entrapment still happens – nearly 40 years after Stonewall. There are still plenty of people out there who hate our guts. And the consequences can be dire – you can be labeled a sex offender and hassled and hounded for the rest of your life.

Please, don’t ever forget that we still are second class citizens who must demand equality. Back in the day we rallied around things like entrapment. These days we tend to ignore the problem figuring we have so many other rights. But we’re not there yet – not even close.

You don’t even want to know how much we’re spending to get my boyfriend his green card – something that wouldn’t be an issue if we were straight. Everywhere you look there’s inequality. While “civil unions” are a nice step, they’re not marriage and we should never be happy until we have full equality.

When people talk about gay cruising areas, ask them why they don’t have a problem with straight lovers lanes. It’s that way with the park next to where I live. The police harass and arrest the gay guys while they tell the straight people who park and make out in cars to just move along (if they do that much). It’s not right and we shouldn’t keep putting up with it.

If the topic comes up with straight friends try to find ways to get them to understand. For our friends we explained that both gay guys and straight people used the park for sex. That there really wasn’t a difference. We also pointed out that they ‘re safer with people around than walking through an empty park – that the guys are there for sex, not for violence… It took people a little thinking to understand, but now they get it.

Sex is still political, and we still have a long way to go – don’t forget it.