What was it like being gay in the 80s

Also in the '80s and '90s there was a lot of religious people sending their gay children like preteens and teens, sometimes threatening tyeir adult children to religious Camp. Quite simply, you can die from exhaustion… and many have. It seemed that I was endlessly striving to make a few moments of connection with others.

Join today and support our work. Homophobia was prevalent, and coming out as gay often meant facing severe discrimination, ostracism, or even violence. I guess I took on the Jack Tripper role that people seemed to enjoy.

Log in to hide these messages. The Mount Everest of my life. Yet, as long as the gay was treated as a stereotypical joke, no one cared. For all I knew, it was a dark abyss of sadness and hate. In Bangladesh, homosexuality remained a deeply taboo subject during the 80s, influenced by cultural and religious norms.

Membership connects you to a movement of readers who believe good journalism builds a better world. My goal: to always throw out a one-liner faster than the people around me and make them laugh. The catholic church continued their attack on the gays and legislation in places like the UK and US surely didn’t help.

Preferring art, music and writing my entire life, I placed myself into the witty class clown with a heart category. You become nauseous, dizzy, irritable, and lose your appetite. There was no discussion of Harvey Milk or the Stonewall riots.

Coming Out in the 80s: A Look Back at LGBTQ Life As a GenXer, we often look back on the 80s culture with this loving nostalgia, the rose colored glasses syndrome. For example, the UK’s government added Section 28 to their Local Government Act that made it.

I was surrounded by a culture… movies, media, education, and social norms, that told me I was to fit into a convenient label that made others comfortable. The s era saw a major shift in society towards more modern global gay culture.

However, there were still storms ahead for the battle of equality seen amongst gay rights. Each and every day, my mind worked frantically to try to fit in and act straight. As you get to the top, your body is depleted of oxygen.

As A Gay Man

There it was, standing before me. Being gay in the 80s meant being isolated from an identity. Being gay in the 80s meant futilely searching for well hidden clues that say “we’re on the same team,” as well. Already contributed?

Homosexuality in the 1980s

Most teenagers can simply like someone and hope they like them back. On TV each night, there were no gay characters except for the occasional flamboyant game show regular on Hollywood Squares. It was okay to make fun and laugh at their expense.

Join the HuffPost Community. There was no acknowledgement that Alexander the Great, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo, were among the many positive gay historical role models. What I observed was that no men ever hugged, or held hands, or kissed on TV.

Even if they had, the individual stations and their viewers would have revolted.