To Be or Not to Be...a Label

I've come to a threshold of revelations. I try and fight being labeled so much, but have no choice but to fall into my own prejudices.

I believe the difficulty I have with the gay community is being defined as gay. Yes, I am gay. Yes, I'm thankful to realize this and live my life without the shame of this, but what I hate is being labeled.

Not just gay, but male, my ethnicity, my height, my weight, my education, my family's wealth, my income, my career. Yes, these are all components of what makes an individual, but I feel they're so focused on and so important to our culture.

And while I desperately desire to be defined as Jonathan, I myself fall victim to labeling and thinking in black and white when everything in life is gray. I know that instead of fighting those labels I should embrace them and spread patience and understanding to all. I feel like I've done that to great deal of people. But sometimes I feel I fall victim to those words and those negative people.