by Pat Parker

You know, some people got a lot of nerve.

Sometimes I don't believe the things I see and hear.

Have you met the woman who's shocked by two women kissing

and in the same breath, tells you she is pregnant?

BUT gays shouldn't be so blatent.

Or this straight couple sits next to you in a movie and

you can't hear the dialogue because of the sound effects.

BUT gays shouldn't be so blatent.

And the woman in your office spends an entire lunch hour

talking about her new bikini drawers and how much

her husband likes them.

BUT gays shouldn't be so blatent.

Or the "hip" chick in your class rattling like a mile a minute

while you're trying to get stoned in the john, about the

camping trip she took with her musician boyfriend.

BUT gays shouldn't be so blatent.

You go in a public bathroom and all over the walls there's John loves

Mary, Janice digs Richard, Pepe loves Delores, etc., etc.

BUT gays shouldn't be so blatent.

Or you go to an amusement park and here's a tunnel of love

and the pictures of straights painted on the front and grinning

couples are coming in and out.

BUT gays shouldn't be so blatent.

Fact is, blatant heterosexuals are all over the place.

Supermarkets, movies, on your job, in church, in books, on television every day

day and night, every place - even in gay bars and they want gay

men and women to go and hide in the closet.

So to you straight folks I say, "Sure, I'll go if you go too."

BUT I'm polite so, after you.

This poem first caught my attention as part of National Coming Out Week last year and I got a few comments on it when I first posted it, so I thought I'd repost and remind people of the crazy double standard that still exists.  Enjoy!