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Assimilation and Integration

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K6:

In the city I live (Sherbrooke,Quebec,Canada),the first official gay bar appeared in or around 1976.An unofficial one already existed in the early 70s.
At first,it was an exclusively gay place,as were some other places I went to in Montreal and in the late 70s.I remember the first time I went to the gay disco in my place,on the evening of may 18,1978.Its staff intented to keep heterosexuals and heterosexuality out.For a while,it worked fine.Towards the mid 80s,however,the place became more mixed sex and more imprecise from the standpoint of sexual orientation.From then on,the gay commercial scene embodied in discos and bars completely ceased to interest me.It had besides only exacerbated my thirst for gay space,
not soothed it.Gays are completely different from heterosexuals.Including from opportunist heterosexuals with peripheral homosexual interests.

K6

Mogul:
Vicky's first proposition:

"Assimilation and integration are not the same thing. Integration means the minority and the majority add their respective cultures into a new one; assimilation means that minority gives up its own culture, and accepts the culture of the majority. If any true integration is not possible, the minority should by all means resist the assimilation."

In case of integration, gays like the heterosexual films, books and art to the same extent as they appreciate homosexual films, books and art. Straights and gays go to the same bars and discothecues and thanks to some novell social mechanisms have equal chances to find an adequate partner, despite the 10:1 ratio. Straights and gays are able to listen to each other's problems with true interest; straight men are wholly understanding why Dany is so much sweeter than Joachim and they even intersperse expert remarks on this particular subject at appropriate moments. This world wouldn't have lost the gay culture, it would absorb it.

The resul of the integration is, indeed, a new mixed culture would evolve - with both homo- and heterosexual cultures contributing to it. Now, is such a result of true unification of cultures a bad thing? - Probably not, as the gay culture would still be preserved, being a part of a whole.

Knowing the human nature, such scenario is, however, not very likely to happen. Having equal rights doesn't mean be or become equal, and there is indeed no need to give up our identity just becouse we become "emancipated". The straight might, however, try to persuate us that now everything is settled and we should reduce our visibility again: "My god, now you can even marry and adopt children, so why are you still flaunting about your homosexuality? You are going to bore me!" Giving into this social pressure for unification with heterosexuals in any respect would, of course, be an assimilationist process leading to the extinction of gay culture. We would e.g. "be wholly accepted" with our same-sex partners in circle of our friends and would usually go out with them and watch some heterosexual films, heterosexual cabarett etc., as, of course, it will be a matter of democratic decision. Such an assimilationist way is for sure not the right one for us, and we must be aware of our own interests in the newly just, bust still unequal world.

What exactly would we conceive than as a decay of the gay culture in the assimilationist scenario? It could be:

* Gays are accepted by their heterosexual friends and the family and begin to spend their free time mostly among heterosexuals, listening to their heterosexual stories and problems; their own problems being, however, of little interest to the others. As the result these gays cease to stick around with their likes and stiffle cultural exchange with other gays;
* Gays are no longer in danger of being beaten up in a heterosexual discothec, bar or gyms - therefore they go there instead of the gay premises, as a result they might have spent a nice, healthy evening, but having seen no other homosexuals at all, with straights being friendly, but desinterested;
* Gays regain their interest to the "great art works of civilization", being simply the usual heterosexual art, whereas straights still do not care and do not know much about homosexual art.
It is important that gays fight the assimilation, wherever possible. They should make clear to themselves and to the friendly straights around them, what the assimilation is about. As long as straights themselves are not ready for truly integration (who can be blamed for his nature, anyway?) - we must fight all these snaky and well-meant attempted assimilation and preserve our own culture by all means.
 :=SU

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