LGBT - A COMMUNITY OF ACCEPTANCE, EH, SORT OF...

Since the year 2000, when Bill Clinton declared June as gay and lesbian pride month, this month has been set aside to celebrate the entire community, regardless of the label you identify with.

It is meant to be an all inclusive and an all accepting community that welcomes everyone, period. So in lies theory, the reality can be much, much more different. Sadly, there is just as much division, turmoil, intolerance and judgment as there is outside the community.

There are gay men that do not like or accept the idea of gay (lesbian) women and vice versa. There are lesbians that only accept another woman as such if she looks a certain way or is a biological woman. There are transgender people that only accept other transgender people but not transvestites, and vice versa. The degree of acceptance within this community is often razor thin. If you don't look, act or believe a certain way, this community of acceptance relegates you to the fringe, or outside the group completely.

The LGBT community doesn't get to pick and chose its level of acceptance. It's either, we are all in this together, or not at all. The failure of the LGBT community on this level speaks volumes to the people who comprise the community at large itself.

Unfortunately, there are a number of really wonderful people in the community that often get lost in the shuffle of inner groups within the group. Something that I think gets lost by them is this: you, each one of you in the LGBT community, are its representative to the world when you are out there. Are you acting, speaking and accepting in a manner you would want to have demonstrated towards you if you were brand new to the community and looking for love, respect and support?

I wish I were writing this as a person who merely observed an isolated situation. Unfortunately, I am a person who has been judged, left out and behind by the unacceptance and intolerance of the LGBT community of St. Petersburg, Florida -- the most LGBT friendly city around. It matters not whether it's by one or two people or all of them, you represent your community, and so many of you within it do a horrible job of it.

When I go out in public I make it my goal to make sure that I put my best foot forward as a loose representative of the LGBT community, even though I'm not really a part of it. After all, I may be the only interaction a person has with a member of that community and I want it to be a positive encounter. I think from now on instead of trying to represent a community that doesn't want or accept me, I will just represent myself.

Television commercials promoting this myth of total harmony and acceptance all through the month of June make me sad and even angry that there are a number of people inside the community who don't practice what the commercials preach.

There are some that are waiting to welcome you with a smile, but there are many others who will judge you and shun you before they ever know your name. This can be a detrimental experience for a person new to the community and their new life who is just looking to find a place where they can exist and grow in a loving, respecting and accepting community.

Otherwise, June doesn't represent LGBT pride, it's just another 30 days of disappointment...