My company has its own internal email system. The email application gives you the option of designating a one-line banner message at the top of every email you send. Some people put rather mundane things in this banner message ( Example: "I'll be out of the office from 2/18 - 2/22" ), use the banner to advertise something ( "I have Rangers tickets for sale" ), or put a motto, saying, quote, or joke in the banner ( My favorite: "There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who know binary, and those who don't." ).
Today I was cc-ed in a business correspondence from a fellow in my office, and I noticed that his banner message consisted of the words "It totally gets better ..." followed by a graphic of a rainbow flag ( I would hope everyone reading this would know the significance of a rainbow flag, but if you are unaware of the "It Gets Better" project, you can click this link. ).
When I read this, I initially thought to myself, "It's nice that we now live in a world ( at least my part of the world ) where a gay person can be out and proud". 30 years ago this guy probably would have had to hide the fact that he was gay ( and while I don't know the guy well enough to be 100% sure that he's gay, he pretty much makes Liberace and Paul Lynde look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. ), but now it's perfectly fine to be "out" in most work environments.
But then I thought to myself ...
The fact that society considers this guy to be "out", implies that a lot of gay people are still "in".
It implies that he might have once been "in" - as in "In the closet".
Which implies that there still is "a closet".
Which tells me that we still have a long way to go as a society.
Yes, it does get better, but it won't truly be better until "Out of the closet" becomes an obsolete phrase.
Rich
