As anyone noticed lately how gay life is increasingly limited to being online? I recently watched documentaries about gay life in the 70's and 80's, back when it was out in the open. Shouldn't we bring it back outside into the world again? Besides, my computer is beginning to die and I for one cannot afford a new one...
I would forward that those documentaries are about the few places in the world where gay life
could be open, and that - as most histories do - they are condensing a great deal of events into a short time span so they can be digested as a 90 minute (or so) narrative. I, for one, believe that the gay world is much more out in the open than it was in the 70s and 80s, in most Western countries, anyway. The need for angry political protest may not be quite as pressing as it was, but when I think of how many business fly rainbow flags, how many same-sex couples hold hands, how many queer-run social and sports clubs there are, how many GSAs there are, how many cities have gay districts...I mean I don't think those things could have been supported in the 70s and 80s in the numbers they are now. Some not at all.
That said, I agree that a lot of interaction happens on line now, especially regarding dating, but I wouldn't call it "limited" to the internet at all. I think that gay life has gotten a hell of a lot bigger, and that it's embraced the internet as another way for queers to meet and band together. Because of that, actually, I would argue that we're even more represented in real life than we ever have been before. Because of our presence online people all over the world, in big cities and rural villages alike, are getting exposed to gay people and learning that we're just regular folks. And that makes it easier for gay life to happen safely in the real world.
Anyway, blah, blah, blah. I can't agree more, though, that homophobia is still virulent and endemic. The polyannas out there who pretend to tell us that things are all better and the world is used to gay people clearly don't know what it's like to live life outside of the closet. Thankfully, it is better than it used to be (in some parts of the world), so that makes room for a lot more queer life IRL.