True story – Several years ago I started to see a guy & there was good chemistry between us. When he found out I had never been to therapy it ended because he couldn’t relate to someone who had never been to therapy. I thought – such is life. He made me think of people who say ‘I don’t trust someone who won’t drink (alcohol) with me.’
A recent Gayish podcast (119) was about the role of therapy in lgbtq+ lives. One of the hosts conclusions was that everyone needs therapy – by which they mean one-on-one work with a therapist. I have never engaged in one-on-one work with a therapist. (Please don’t revoke my gay card 🙂 ) The closest I’ve come to therapy, I guess, is decades of 12 Step meetings – group therapy of sorts – in fact the that modem of group self-help is the model for group therapy. But 12 Step doesn’t involve professionals to facilitate such groups. https://gayishpodcast.podbean.com
I’ve written extensively about growing up gay which has worked out much of the ptsd I experienced as a child & teen – the ptsd I’ve experienced from the gay ‘community’ is another story 🙂 What is worse – being bullied & belittled by the straight community for being queer or being bullied & belittled by the gay community for not being handsome, young, hung or buff enough to be acceptable?
The Gayish episode is an excellent guide to types of therapy based on the hosts personal experience. The statistics on mental health & addiction issues in the lgbtq+ community are dismaying but not surprising. As we see greater visibility for queers in our culture I hope many of the emotional, mental issues that come from isolation, fear, internalized homophobia, will lessen. Gayish is one of the ways in which such changes continue.
Lucky
when I tell people
I’m lucky to alive today
they act as if I’m overreacting
because in many ways
my life has been a breeze
I didn’t suffer any physical
sexual abuse growing up
never went hungry
my parents never divorced
so what do I have to complain about
it’s not that I’m complaining
just making a statement of fact
I’m lucky to alive
maybe they don’t know
that there as a time
when gay teens were put into
mental institutions to be cured
given shock treatments
lobotomies
behaviour modification
chemical castration
so they would be obedient
normal boys and girls
role models were nonexistent
until Elton John came along
(oh, why couldn’t it have been
Bruce Springsteen)
what saved my life
was music & writing
not writing how
‘fear was too great’
but writing about anything
music never judged me
never waited outside school to beat me up
didn’t tell on you
didn’t turn away
when I searched album covers
for inspiration in words
in Jim Morrison’s tight pants
mooning over sturdy arms
of drummer Keith Moon
never knowing anything about their lives
maybe if I had known
Jim Morrison
was a real back door man
Moon was a bi guy
their fame allowed them freedom
but not freedom of the press
careers would have been ruined
yeah I’m lucky to be alive
because the help I could have used
then
would have killed me
every Tuesday 2019
July
Stratford Festival – Nathan The Wise
August 2-13: getting back to my roots in Cape Breton 
Hey! Now you can give me $$$ to defray blog fees & buy coffee on my trip to Cape Breton – sweet,eh? paypal.me/TOpoet
September
Shaw Festival – Sex (Mae West)
Stratford Festival – Little Shop Of Horrors
June – Capturing Fire 2020 – Washington D.C. 
capfireslam.org
Hey! Or you can give me $$$ to defray blog fees & buy coffee in Washington at 2020’s capfireslam.org – sweet, eh? paypal.me/TOpoet
Like my pictures? I post lots on Tumblr
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/topoet
