P.A.T.H. and its typical members

In my high school there was a group that anyone was welcome to be a part of called P.A.T.H. (Promoting Acceptance and Tolerance of all People). Typically the members of this group fell into a limited number of crowds; the theatre people, the art people, and the general outcasts. Currently, being gay is still taboo, but its acceptance level has risen dramatically since the 60’s when people were being tortured and killed for their life choices. Specifically, I see it being much more accepted in the artistic world than in the conservative business world, or any other worlds for that matter because art encourages people to express themselves in a variety of different forms. I think that is why most of the gay people I have encountered associate themselves with these types of groups, because they know that they won’t be judged for being different. You can see this also in the fashion world, such as in “Fashion Runway” on T.V. where some of the top designers are outwardly gay males. I think we tend to think of gay men as being very flamboyant and feminine, and it doesn’t surprise us that much to see anymore since so many people have felt comfortable enough and confident in their identities to come out in recent years. I can imagine it must be much more difficult for the gay males that do not share the same looks and mannerisms. The part that still seems to be taboo these days are the men who you would never think would be gay, and have very masculine professions such as construction workers, fishermen, carpenters and many others. I feel that society tends to link homosexuality with professions and when they don’t seem to match up, it is looked at as abnormal. We have a long way to go before there is a world view of everyone being equal, but at least we have come a long way in terms of learning acceptance for the life choices people make compared to the days when “Brokeback Mountain” took place in the 60’s.