Exactly, when I came out early 2000's it was awkward, people had opinions and the law just about protected me from getting fired. Now no one cares and everyone can just get on with their lives like it's supposed to be.
I mean- you’ll find types of people in every group- even among heterosexuals you’ll find people who are very expressive or vocal or otherwise attempt to signal their sexuality- and of course you find many people who specifically leverage or use their sexuality or aspects of it to garner attention. Wether we are talking about attempting to dress or style oneself in a flashy way to gain attention or provoke conversation, or people who can’t help but bring up their “wild” sex lives or proclivities and preferences be they bondage or anal or whatever that person believes will capture the attention of others- negative or positive- and make them “stand out” or feel special.
The immature and insecure are especially prone to those types of need to loudly signal their personal identities to others- to try and seem “cool” or “unique” which is one of the reasons older people often have an aversion to teens and such- the age group where it is most common to start seeing loud obnoxious behavior to broadcast a group identity- a fan of a show, a member of a clique, etc. people forming an identity are often very vocal and expressive of their self identity- it’s new and exciting to them and they are feeling out their place in the world.
We do have to keep in mind when discussing things like sexual identity other than “heterosexual” that classically and even largely to this day those groups are often repressed or underrepresented.
It is becoming more common for younger people to “come out” openly, but many people don’t come out or “recognize” their non heterosexuality until they are past the age where most heterosexuals begin expressing their sexuality and interacting with society via a sexual lens.
This means some of the phases of early sexual discovery can come later for those individuals. It’s very common when heterosexual kids start identifying sexually that they might be very vocal or extremely expressive (PDA, lewd talk in public etc) and they are sort of proud and excited and getting to know a world where sexuality is new to them. This can be true of non heterosexuals discovering their sexuality and embracing it too.
There are other factors concerning the history and even recent history of homosexuality etc. in society. During the “sexual revolution” heterosexual culture was very “loud and proud.” Open sexuality or explorative sexuality even within what society considered “heterosexual” had been stigmatized in America and people were advocating for normalcy where it was ok to not hide that you had premarital sex or women enjoy sex and want sex too or that people might use toys or have multiple partner sessions or other things that defied a sort of quasi religious idea that sex was very private and taboo, between married people and limited in what was acceptable expression in sexual acts.
So heterosexuality in society and those who were “different” in those heteronormative spaces were vocal and proud advocates who often worse their sexuality on their sleeves to normalize it.
Sexualities other than heterosexuality have faced an even greater and more long term stigmatization and have only very recently- within the lifetime of those on earth today- come to a place where their love was even recognized as valid by the law let alone where they didn’t face criminal or mob punishment and harassment for being themselves or expressing themselves.
Remember- we use homosexuality and allusions to it as insults. It is still considered an insult overall to call someone gay or a slur for it- to say they dress like a homosexual or act like one etc etc. and the concept of masculinity is positioned as the polar opposite of homosexuality. Things have improved but are still not to where we have fully accepted and embraced these differences or even to where we don’t think of them in a negative light.
So a lot of the “pride” that comes from these communities is coming as a counter the shame and stigma heaped on them
For their own well being but also to try and create a world where those not living as themselves openly out of shame or fear can see that being “different” in sexuality or gender identity in these ways doesn’t make you “bad” or mean you have to hide yourself or change who you are to fit in.
Someday I think it would be nice if we lived in a world where we could just not make a “big deal” out of personal identities like we do. Where it’s not shocking or terribly relevant to anyone and everyone is inherently respectful and we don’t need “accepting” of people because we intuitively acknowledge different people exist and are equal as humans and valid.
For the time being- there are some complexities around the concept of “pride” and vocal identity that stem from history and society- but any group has people who can be obnoxious or just looking for attention.
It is becoming more common for younger people to “come out” openly, but many people don’t come out or “recognize” their non heterosexuality until they are past the age where most heterosexuals begin expressing their sexuality and interacting with society via a sexual lens.
This means some of the phases of early sexual discovery can come later for those individuals. It’s very common when heterosexual kids start identifying sexually that they might be very vocal or extremely expressive (PDA, lewd talk in public etc) and they are sort of proud and excited and getting to know a world where sexuality is new to them. This can be true of non heterosexuals discovering their sexuality and embracing it too.
So heterosexuality in society and those who were “different” in those heteronormative spaces were vocal and proud advocates who often worse their sexuality on their sleeves to normalize it.
Remember- we use homosexuality and allusions to it as insults. It is still considered an insult overall to call someone gay or a slur for it- to say they dress like a homosexual or act like one etc etc. and the concept of masculinity is positioned as the polar opposite of homosexuality. Things have improved but are still not to where we have fully accepted and embraced these differences or even to where we don’t think of them in a negative light.
For their own well being but also to try and create a world where those not living as themselves openly out of shame or fear can see that being “different” in sexuality or gender identity in these ways doesn’t make you “bad” or mean you have to hide yourself or change who you are to fit in.
Someday I think it would be nice if we lived in a world where we could just not make a “big deal” out of personal identities like we do. Where it’s not shocking or terribly relevant to anyone and everyone is inherently respectful and we don’t need “accepting” of people because we intuitively acknowledge different people exist and are equal as humans and valid.
For the time being- there are some complexities around the concept of “pride” and vocal identity that stem from history and society- but any group has people who can be obnoxious or just looking for attention.
Probably black too, at this point.
Well, based on what's in the news, that is.