Comments on What's the Matter With Kansas?

FYI: Topeka is only 20 miles from Lawrence...so you ARE lucky that freaky fred and his fat ass family didn't show up...

Lawrence IS a liberal, hipster oasis in a sea of sandy conservatism....

sign me,

an ex-Topekan/frequent Lawrence visitor

Mush.

Thanks for posting that Dan. It's sage advice and a heartening story. I have not found many resources (even from PFLAG, GLSEN, HRC, etc.) that provide parents today sound advice on how to deal with their teenagers (or younger) coming to grips with a realization that they are "different", and that it's perfectly ok to be so. Maybe an idea for your next book? All the books I've seen are somewhat dated and deal more with parents reacting to their adult children who come out during/post college, as you stated was the case for you.

Things are slowly changing. It warms my heart to know that no matter how loud the fundies shout, people are slowly waking up, and they're waking up on the good side.

Case in point: my Dad. He grew up during a time when it was not ok to be gay. The only gay people you saw/heard about were the ones who would, say, masturbate in public, i.e. the "perverts." So he hated them. Over the years, he found out people he knew, and liked, were gay. He realized that they were good people, and slowly realized there was nothing wrong with them. Now, he defends gay marriage at every chance he gets, getting into arguments with his friends. He and Mom sent a congratulatory card to our lesbian neighbors when they got married (yeah, Massachusetts!). We have a few gay members of the family (who may be out in their lives, but not to the extended family) and it makes him sad when at family gatherings, they don't bring their partners, and refer to them as "friends."

People can change. I hope, in my lifetime, that questions of gay marriage being right/wrong will be a non-issue. I think it just might happen.

While it's certainly true that it is easier to be publicly gay now than thirty years ago, I still firmly believe that as long as mainstream society is telling us to feel ashamed of being gay, Pride should be about pride.

One lesson from the NYTimes story: When faced with a bully, punch him/her in the face. Seriously, this is excellent advice. Growing up, everyone always told me to "ignore" my bullies, which never works. You just stay miserable for years. They also say you should tell an adult, which only results in even worse bullying. This kid did the right thing.

I like you Dan Savage, but this seems sort of condescending. Now, I understand you're famous. But - I mean - consider what you're able to do for a living. You make it sound like such a chore that you get paid to go around and entertain people and make them think.

How AWFUL!

I'd trade you jobs any day of the week. And I'd never complain that I might almost have to speak with the people who so graciously appreciated what I had to say that they thought it worth a speaking fee to bring me out - and *gasp* now I have to go out to dinner with them. And maybe even CHAT with them. Those selfish fucks!

Well, yes. I realize it sounds... awful to bitch about it. But most of the dinners are pretty miserable. You get up at 5 AM to fly out of Sea-Tac at 6. There's always a connection or two because most colleges aren't in hub cities. You arrive, have five minutes to set your stuff down, and then you're usually hustled off to a restaurant with sometimes 15 people from the gay group that want to... hear you talk. Before you, you know, talk.

Sometimes I beg 'em to let me sleep and then go out after the talk. But, yeah, I sound like a whiner. But you do this a dozen times in two months and... you'll be whining too. But, yeah, it's a great gig I've got. And I'm grateful--for a whiner.

Hey Dan,

Thanks again for coming, you were great. But really though, if I FedEx you 5 bucks, will you tell me what TCBATL means? I'm stumped.

Ryan

In all honesty, I probably would whine, too, after a few months, Dan - but us normal average journalists don't have the luxury of speaking gigs. ;)

If only.

Dan, Great story.

Thanks for putting some perspective on this ongoing struggle and helping us see there IS progress being made.

BTW, if you ever come to speak for me, I won't make you talk over dinner first. I may ask that we make out a little while we sip our Dirty Marties, but not talk....

Wow, you can get up at 5 for a 6AM flight? You're a lucky guy. If I need to catch a 6AM flight out of San Francisco (or, even worse, Oakland), I need to get there by 4:30 or so, which means getting up around 3:30. Or, more likely, staying up until 3:30.

I hope this helped. It's like reading your column to hear about people who's problems are worse than yours so that you can feel better about your own life by default.

Oh, those are just the cutest boys! They look exactly like the freshmen I used to seduce when I was a grad student.

Interesting post, Dan.

It struck me as I read this - in my pre-Clinton college days there were few if any out gay people on campus. The two gay guys I knew then were "townies" several years older than me.

It's strange now to think that there was once a time with no gay people around.

Ryan:

A quick Google search turned up a match for TCBATL: The Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf.

Apparently it is a Starbucks-like chain.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

@3 I'll second that idea. A great book topic, Dan.

Yay for post-gayness.

I came out to my (very Christian yet very Seattle) parents when I was 21, and the worst thing that ever came of it was my dad saying 'I don't think this is God's plan for you.'
Me: 'What? That's a shitty thing to say'
Dad: ... 'Yeah, I guess it was. Sorry.'

Considering the shit that people Dan's age and older had to go through, if all I have to tolerate is an occasional innocently tactless comment, I should thank my lucky gay stars.

HA! "Yeah, I guess it was. Sorry." Priceless.

My orthodox jewish father and irish catholic mother cancel each other out. Holidays are confusing enough without getting into doctrinal disputes about sexuality.

I agree keep the festivities but the whole pride thing has always seemed forced to me. I just like a a crowd and a great day out, even if it is raining and I have been to "pride" parades when it is raining and it kinda evened everything out the people that really just wanted to hang out and be with people stayed and the rest went and saw rainbows indoors. We have alternative to pride day here in Vancouver in the east end. That is where the fun is because most of the "Gay Village" is gutted from the party and everyone has fun just hanging out, many are not gay they just come for the involvement. Maybe it is more of a pride in just being a person and living to the fullest. But I do like a good float and I do not mean a drag queen in a car with a rainbow
flag stuck on the side. I wana see something like that "God Queen" in "300" had. Now that would be impressive.

@19: "Maybe it is more of a pride in just being a person and living to the fullest." This is what Stonewall started, and what pride stands for. We just want to be able to be ourselves. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less!

If you are gay and can't relate to what gay pride means, then you must be young enough and lucky enough not to have ever had to hide and not be yourself. Go gay youth and parents of today!

Did I look that young when I was in college? Those guys are just kids.

Shortly before she died, my last living grandparent, Mom's mother, who was the only member of my family I'd never explicitly come out to (for a variety of stupid reasons), admonished me (as she did every time we talked) to come home and visit. Then added, "And bring your friend with you." (That would be my husband of 12 years who I'd never mentioned directly to her--to the point that I always did her holiday card separately and first so I made sure only my signature was on it and it didn't have the joint year in review letter enclosed) That was the moment I realized exactly how much the world had changed since I'd first come out in the early 90s.