It was a very long year

I read E.J. Dionne’s Washington Post Base Assumptions op-ed and couldn’t stop laughing at the quote from Scott Reed, Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign manager:

“If you’re a gay who likes to burn flags, it’s going to be a long year.”

I couldn’t get Frank Sinatra out of my head, so I composed one verse of a song to be sung to the tune “It Was a Very Good Year.” If you have verses (or can improve on my verse), please post.

When I was a gay burning flags, it was a very long year.
It was a very long year for sweet young couples in rainbow sarongs.
We weathered right wing blogs, and never lost faith when I was a gay burning flags.