Alex P. Keaton Hijacks Gay Rights Movement.

I don't know, maybe it's an old saw by now, but this video clip made me sad and bitter. This is so not what I've been fighting for.

We all keep talking about how, for this new generation, homosexuality is no big deal. It's true, and that's great. But I feel the need to constantly point out that a big part of the reason for that, a big part of the reason the new gay agenda suddenly has so much straight support is because the agenda has become so conservative.

I keep harping on that fact because I have the sense that most people don't get it, don't see that connection. But maybe they do. Maybe it's obvious, and maybe that's exactly what they want. Maybe it just comes down to opposing worldviews. When I was marching in Washington in 1987, I was against the nuclear family, I was against the military. I was marching against the exact institutions that the new gay rights movement is marching for. Maybe the ideal world that has always motivated my political convictions, my activism -- a world of possibility, freedom, openness -- maybe my dream of sexual liberation is hopelessly fringey and outdated. Maybe they're brilliant and I'm just old.

I have to admit that a part of my bitterness is a sort of petulance at being left out. I loved those Washington marches back in my ACT UP/Queer Nation days, how exhilarating they were, how powerful and visible we felt. We were pushing against the mainstream, carving out space for our lives in America; we were brand new. I couldn't have marched yesterday because I don't support any of the things they're fighting for, and that makes me sad.