Embrace your Gay Yay — 10 reasons being gay is absolutely fabulous

Photo by Janosch Lino on Unsplash

Growing up, I thought being gay was a sad thing.

Since I didn’t know any gay people in real life, my only impression was based on tv stereotypes. I thought all gays talked with lisps, had spiky bleached blond hair, and were overly flamboyant. I couldn’t understand why these men didn’t want to marry women, have families, or act the way men were “supposed to act.” I must have internalized the idea that being gay was some sort of disease, which was probably reinforced by the Catholic faith in which I was raised.

Perhaps my body suspected what it took my logical brain 30 years to verbally conclude — I’m gay, too.

And now that I’ve been out for a few years and fully love and accept myself, I can see that being gay is glorious.

Sure, our rights are being eroded across the country by conservative governments. Navigating the gay dating scene can be soul-crushing. Many of us have grown up with childhood trauma that will take many years and lots of therapy to recover from.

I’m sure I’ll highlight some challenges of being gay in another post.

But as we wrap up Pride Month, I’m here to celebrate my Gay Yay — and encourage you to do the same by highlighting some silly (and not so silly) reasons I love being gay.

1. Flirting with cute men

Fairly obvious for most of us gay men, but this is well worth the leadoff spot on this list.

Our hetero-normative society conditioned us that the only acceptable form of love involved a man and a woman. From the book of Genesis to every Disney movie we watched growing up, the prince’s journey would only be complete when he fell in love happily ever after with his chosen princess. The two lovers would seal their fate with a kiss, and we’d assume that these fantasized relationships had a blissful ending.

Now, as out gay men, we get to experience a different bliss. The bliss that comes from hitting on or kissing hunky men with hard, lean bodies (or whatever body type floats your boat) feels ever sweeter when we embrace our Gay Yay.

Being able to display our attraction to men (in most cases) without fear of being bullied…