Halloween & things

I spent the evening at the H4TCI. Note to self: Do not feed candy to people with Bipolar disorder who are prone to mania.

This morning, walking the dog, a woman setting up the outdoor tables (and it was cold!) said, "OH, what a *cutie*!" as I walked past.

I knew she was talking about the pup, but I replied, Thank you! I assume you were talking about me, right?

"Oh yes, of course. It wasn't the *dog* I was talking about," she said, laughing. "I'm not gay, but you're pretty, too."

I love that "I'm not gay" thing.

Oddly, several blocks away and 40 minutes later, I popped in to talk to The Florist for a few minutes. She had come over the other night for drinks, and we were supposed to do a death & dying interview but never got to it. So I wanted to find out when we could do that. For whatever reason, she made a tangential comment: "Do you remember those 'I'm straight but not narrow' buttons people used to wear? It got to where if I saw one of those, I felt like slapping the person."

She's going to be difficult to interview. She tells amazing stories that slide one right into another. It will be hard to keep her on point.

But I digress.

Gays.

This is my last thought for the night: Recently, there has been a "gay sex scandal" all over the TV news here. It involves a male Washington state representative who had sex with a guy -- perhaps while the lawmaker was wearing a red sequined lingere top and heels?

There seems to be some question about whether the cash exchanged as a result of this sexual encounter was payment for prostitution or was political extortion. Either way, the story has been on the news for several nights, always being referred to as the "gay sex scandal."

Listen here, my heterosexual friends. I would just like to point out, especially to those of you who think gays don't really face all *that much* discrimination in our society: Each time a "gay sex scandal" hits the news, it reminds me of how much more progress yet needs making.

The day it is just a "sex scandal" -- rather than a "gay sex scandal" -- I will think we have made real progress. (Except for the Puritanical part where sex (period!) is still scandalous. That is a battle all of us deserve to win.) In the meantime, don't tell me there isn't still *serious* systemic oppression of gays, even up here in the lilly white liberal Pacific Northwest. It's been right there on TV every night this week. And it's pathetic.