It’s typically elegantly dressed, or wearing little more than a speedo and glitter. Its face is normally white, defined and clean-cut. We use the term ‘gay community’ as if it denotes one coherent group. It is what I know, it is what we in Ireland know, but it is really what it seems? I’m going to use this space to focus on what it means to be gay today in Western society. No two gay people have the same life experiences – just as no two straight people do – and there is huge variation between countries and cultures. In others, it means a life so challenging, so painful, that it is preferable to end it. In some places it means being able to get married. In others, it means serving as ambassadors, or as senators. In some places, it means facing arrest, deportation, life in prison or even death. In others, it means a life lived underground. What does it mean to be a gay man today? In some places, it means being able to serve openly and proudly in the military. New Outmost columnist, James McDonald wants to get to grips with what it actually means to be gay in the modern world.