What is the main difference if any?

Question

with the mentality of the "older" members of the gay community and the "younger" members (not the youth). Without divulging my age (I'm 25 for life LOL) it seems like the older members (I hate that word, it sounds like we have a secret club LOL) are more grounded with their views, but with less opportunity to present them, whereas the younger ones have the opportunity, but may not be as grounded.

Thoughts?

I meant to say "had less opportunity to present them"

Spiderpig, you absolutely count.

Answer 1

OK, first I will admit to being in the older half, at least physically. :o)

Having spent at least part of our lives having to play the "pronoun game," and choosing our words and actions carefully, with fewer opportunities, our thoughts I believe are a bit more fully formed.

However, there is a lot to be said for spontaneity, and never self-censoring in the first place.

I'd say both categories have their merits.
If I were to pick one side to support us in a debate, it would be the older folks.
If I were to pick one side for outreach and representation at more informal gatherings, it would be the younger folks.

Answer 2

LOL!
this is a fun question.
let's say 'older' is 40-plus, ok? if your point of view isn't more grounded by that age than it was when you were 20-something, you haven't been paying attention. there's a profound physical vs. mental shift that occurs as one ages. anyone in the 'older' category who claims sex is better than it was when he was a teenager is kidding himself. by the same token, anyone in the 'younger' category who thinks 20-somethings are smarter today than they were when the 'older generation' was younger is also kidding himself.

and Viktor, Viktor, Viktor! who do you think invented Yahoo Answers? it may be easier to acquire information nowadays than it was 20 years ago, but it remains to be seen whether or not that's a good thing. you may get your answers more quickly, but how do you know they're GOOD answers? "The Origin of Species" and "The Descent of Man" combined comprise 600 pages of text. If you haven't read them, how can you have an informed opinion if you want to debate a Creationist about the works of Darwin?

i had an interesting conversation this afternoon with a 70 year old man about topics ranging from the glacier atop Mount Kilimanjaro to the number of known vs. unknown species of bactieria in a ton of soil. he doesn't own a computer. he has a picture of the pope on his wall. we talked about those we'd loved and lost - his Mary, my Steve - and despite anything the pope might have to say, we both agree that everytime we think of our late partners, we feel the same degree of sadness, and the sweetness of the leaving...

you can't get that on Yahoo, and you can't get that at twenty either.

by the way, kids. i was 15 when i 'came out,' and i'm 52 now. you do the math. i stopped attending gay pride parades after 25 of them. i did the gay activist alliance, marched against anita bryant, got arrested with act up, queer nation, the pink panthers, the hardwick decision, cherry grove, folsom east and west, the anvil, the mineshaft (spent my 21st birthday there... woke up on staten island wondering what happened to my pubic hair...), the gay and lesbian film festival...

grounded? maybe, maybe not... one thing i've NEVER done is play the 'pronoun game.'

Answer 3

I would say that experience has a lot to do with how we present ourselves. I tend to look at questions at first at face value. Then I dig deep and ask why is this person asking this particular question and what is this person going to gain from my perspective. Finally, I ask myself, what experience do I have to gain and offer for this question before answering.

Some of the younger people may just look at the question at face value without digging into the reasons as to why a person would ask this type of question, etc. I know this may be a generalization and I do not mean for this question to be offensive to any of the younger readers but this is the primary difference I noticed. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

I believe it's because the younger generation today has so many more resources then the older generation had at that age. For instances, Yahoo! Answers. They can get so much support and help completely behind their parents backs and without leaving the house. I never had these resources, so I tend to believe it was harder for me. And maybe that makes me further appreciate my life. To be honest though I've never really gave it much thought. And I never really denied my homosexuality that much when I was younger so it wasn't really harder for me.

Answer 5

My father-in-law once said to me "you reach a point in your life (age) when you no longer care what people think about you"...I think that I am reaching that point...I just do the best I can and if people can't accept my homosexuality --then they have the problem-not me. The younger people on here are all about insecurity with their sexuality and have questions pertaining to that (and Partying!)---which is fine...I suppose that it is good to question who you are and where you are coming from...It's just that as you become older you really do have a lot of the answers (even if they only apply to you)...So?...Are you really confused yet???? lol.
Also I really have to agree with Jake..the younger generation have no idea how hard it was for us in the beginning...we had no support...no one even to talk to ....

Answer 6

Any younger generation cannot fully appreciate how they got where they are now, whether it's gays today or the children of the ppl that fought for our freedom from England... The hardships endured are never transferred (thankfully) to the younger folks.

Answer 7

Im going to be 22 in a week do I count?

I will agree with some of that but aslo. I know some real down to earth 19 year olds.. Kadija is one of the most Grounded people I know for her age. but I see you point though:)

Answer 8

I feel that the younger generation will never be as appreciative of what we have today than generations before us. We never had to live in a time where homosexuality was so taboo and unknown.

Answer 9

Ok I see a question in the first line then the following paragraph answers your question. Like you said in your paragraph some people are old. I'm 40. And some people are young. Yes 25 is young.