shambles, i think i disagree with you that society's attitudes have changed. while homosexuality is definitely becoming more acceptable, there's still a society-wide feeling of extreme discomfort and revulsion. when working with my clients' teenage kids, the most common insult i hear is "he's such a queer," which is especially forcefully directed at boys who know how to be caring and sensitive with their friends. gay-bashing is a tradition that's still alive and well (and not just of concern to gay folks; the majority of adolescents who are picked on/ostracized/beaten up/raped for being gay are _not_actually_gay_). and while we have gay characters on tv and in movies and whole storylines about what it's like to be gay, you'll notice that the female characters are rarely sympathetic unless they're bi and cute, and the male characters are mostly clowns.

i'm fully in agreement that separatism is not and never could be the answer. however, if we are to be accepting of our diversity, the first thing we have to do is acknowledge it. when kat started this thread, i think we all understood that she wasn't trying to drum up interest for a whole new exclusive queer-only digitrad with queer-only songs and a dating service on the side. she was just suggesting we talk about something we haven't really talked about before.

and isn't that what diversity is all about?