COMMUNITY OF HOPE
In 2005, I am a person who lives in New York City. I am a gay man. I am an actor. I am a producer and I am a director. I am an activist. I am a fundraiser. I am a friend. I am a lover. I am a son. I am a brother. I am an uncle. I am an American. I am a human being. I belong to hundreds of communities.
Each community I have been a part of has, over time, developed courses of action which are quite clearly based in fear and loathing, hatred or denial. I have seen personal and community growth stunted by this evolution and it has at times, defeated me. I believe through education, effort and understanding, we can actually change the courses of the communities we are a part of.
Great proverbs written over time, have stated things like "without the darkness, we would never know the light." This is an absolute truth and cannot be denied. But once we know the darkness, why do we continually gravitate to it, despite the pain we know it may cause? Why must we continually challenge that which we know to be true? And what is with the great need and desire to accompany misery? This is not where community should be found.
My experience as a member of dozens of communities, has taught me that education is of utmost importance. Without education, we will continue to lose hope and gain fear. My hope is to speak to as many people as I can and inspire them to create community wherever it is they can. As a gay man living in New York, I have seen literally hundreds of people come and go. Some move to New York to find themselves and others move farther away experiencing nothing but loss. It has been said that the younger gay community, the generation which we MUST count on to continue a legacy of humanity and of equal rights, feels left out. The previous generation of gay men and women, have been so focused on their own fight, that they have forgotten our youth. Now my children, my young friends are growing up without role models, without the nurturing of the generation before them, without education.
Throughout my discussion, I not only educate on where we have come from as a community, but I hope to inspire this next generation to create their own community. A community which understands that the future generation is essential to all of our growth. A community which extends a hand not only to the future, but to the past. A community that realizes hope is born of freedom, equality and love. Hope can not be born from self-loathing, hatred and fear. This community WILL embrace one another. To survive, they must.
It is through community that we learn to love not only one another, but ourselves. When nearly 1/3 of all teenage suicides are that of young gay men and women, something must change. We must take responsibility and change the course of who we are. When and only when that happens, can we truly be a community based in hope instead of fear.