I KEEP THE MIRROR IN FRONT OF ME

Every time I hear about Gay Pride, I'm reminded of my silence during the 80's AIDS crisis and the countless lives that were lost as a result of collective denial.

Then on an FB page, I hear about the fight to bury the dead and to get hospice care.

Another friend tells me about guys from Jersey who would regularly drive to the Village in their pickup trucks to beat up gays.

Then there's the ostracized family, the suicides, the bullying, the murders because 'she wasn't whom she seemed to be'; the trauma of DAILY oppression.

So when folk ask why I don't unfriend, it's because I keep my mirror in front of me and recognize that sanity is a process.