One More Short Rant

OK, as we all know, yesterday was gay pride day. There was a big parade in Chicago, as there was in most metropolitan areas. The guy in the desk to the left of me (the one who wants to nuke the middle east?) was complaining about a network news promo during the baseball game. Gay pride parade, details at 9:00 or some such. Anyway, he was upset that they showed a picture of the parade.

"My kid was watching the game and they cut to the parade. What if there had been two guys kissing? I don't want him to see that."

"Well," I said, "it's unlikely they'd put that image on the tv screen for a news promo, but is it that big a deal?"

He looked at me as if I had suggested that he take his son to visit an s&m dungeon.

The guy sitting to his left concurred with him. So did the woman sitting to my right. Apparently, it's a form of child abuse to expose kids to the fact that some people are gay. I didn't know this.

This was followed by a joke or two about fudgepacking or some comparable verb.

I came back to the fundamental question: what's the big deal? Why does it bother you so much? I asked the single guy in our group:

"Haven't you noticed that gay men usually have female friends? Do you know what a great opening you have when you are introduced to a girl by one of her gay friends? That's the best opening in the world! Right away, you get points for being confident, tolerant and secure. There's no better introduction I'd rather have."

I could have asked him if he'd even touched a woman in the last two years. I suspect the answer is no, but that would have been mean. He is a nice guy after all.

But really---I live in Chicago. Maybe I do cultivate friends who test the boundaries of acceptable sexual behavior (threesomes, bondage scenes, etc.) and I'd never hold myself up as a model of bourgeois respectability. But all the same---what's the big fucking deal?