Knit Like a Man

For the sake of full disclosure, I’ve known David Demchuk for a little over a year now. I met David via the 9rules network. We were both members in the “Special Interests” community, as 9rules didn’t have a section devoted to LGBT blogs (though I tried to have that changed without any luck). David’s blog is Knit Like a Man, and it covers his love for knitting among other topics.

In addition to providing recommendations for music you can knit by, David is also a source of pride for the online gay community. In posts like I’m gay. So what., Emergency Averted or Surprising your boyfriend at Christmas, David treats his orientation and relationship like he should: as if it were a non-issue.

So many times, the gay community falls into a habit of holding back or omitting details about their personal lives for fear of harassment, what others will think or they just don’t want to deal with the stigma. If we, as a community, take this approach, then we’re sending the message that we are different or there’s something shameful about who we are, which makes it okay for the bigots out there to treat us that way.

To change things in the future, we all need to take a page out of David’s book. Talk about your life, love fearlessly and be open about your love. Over time, when we treat our sexuality as a side-note, others will as well.

Well done David.