Gay Personal Bill of Rights

1. I have the right to respect myself from birth onwards and not to suffer for years until I gain the courage to do so--if I gain that courage, if the world around me allows me that courage.

2. I have the right to look fabulous.

3. I have the right to be bitter and angry.

4. I have the right to say "NO", and the right to say "YES!" even if that "YES!" happens to clash with your particular version of morality.

5. I have the right to overachieve as a result of being made to feel inadequate by an unloving society.

6. I have the right to call me a faggot, but you don't.

7. I have the right to ask for emotional support, or to keep it inside until I explode.

8. I have the right to mince and the right not to mince.

9. I have the right to talk about my sex life just as much as you talk about your straight sex life.

10. I have the right to my opinion on your sexual orientation even if you are unwilling to admit your own true inclinations.

11. I have the right to walk home without being beaten.

12. I have the right to my home and my job, even after my employer or landlord finds out that I sleep with men.

13. I have the right to my home or job even if I test HIV positive.

14. I have the right to make a living either as an interior decorator or as a garage mechanic--or as anything in between.

15. I have the right to see my children from a previous heterosexual relationship or have children in a homosexual relationship.

16. I have the right to create a home with another man and to all the protections and privileges that straight people get when they do the same thing.

17. I have the right to flaunt it whether this amounts to getting married to another man on television or just holding hands at lunch.

18. I have the right to tell you when you are being homophobic.

19. I have the right know my own history and my gay elders, who they were and what they did for themselves and for me.

20. I have the right to many, many more things that the straight world takes for granted but most of all I have the right to be me.

Author Unknown.