Community has always been a very important concept for me.
Throw on top of that, how much I enjoy doing community service, and I found an awesome group: Gay4Good. Once a month we get together and give our time to a different non-profit around the city. I did my first project with them over the weekend, and had a really good time.
A couple people asked me though, what the point of the group is. Their reasoning is why does there have to be a specific gay community service group? Why label it and just keep it open to everyone. While I think there is some credence to that line of thought, I think we’re at a place and time where these kind of groups are still needed, and more importantly welcomed.
I explained that for a couple reasons, I think the very idea of a group is great: one, it provides a group where we don’t necessarily have to worry about being judged, not being our full selves, and can instead just pitch in together and do some community service. Two: it’s good PR for the LGBT community, you know the whole “we’re not monsters, look we’re doing community service!” line of thinking.
But I also think that it also helps us build community. It goes back to the idea of a family of choice. We can choose who we serve with and we can see the support that we have, even if it’s not always as evident as we wish.
I’ve done a lot of community service. A lot of much larger weekends, but it was still a lot of fun. We all pitched in to help the Downtown Pittsburgh Partnership with a couple different projects, and aside from a few differences, it was very similar. I felt more relaxed of course, and I found out that I have a very different definition of “clothes you don’t mind getting dirty” than most others.
Next month, we’re participating in the Harvey Milk International Day of Service and doing three simultaneous projects across the city (followed up by a happy hour to benefit a fourth charity), which will be fun, and once again, it looks like I’ll be playing in the dirt (more landscaping).
And a fun aside, there actually was a straight guy with our group this time. Granted, he was there for court-ordered community service, but you know, he was there working with us.
And yes, of course there is a nerd component to this. One of the reasons I love the Myst community so much is the fact that we really are a community. We care about each other, we know each other and we reach out to each other in so many ways. Also, fun fact, depending on the translation from Sumarian, URU means community (or more commonly, “city”).
Anyway, I’m excited to help out again as often as I can, and I’m very happy to have found a part of the LGBT community that I think I feel very comfortable and welcomed in.
All my best,
Mike
