Hello! I am hoping you are having a magical day!
In exactly 100 days I will be boarding a plane to Orlando to partake in one of Florida’s biggest, gayest events: Gay Days at Disneyworld. Thousands upon thousands of red-shirt wearin’ homos converge on the parks over five days either to make a political statement, a safety-in-numbers thing or just a damn great weekend of fun (depending on your idea of fun). Meanwhile, unsuspecting straight people, when confronted with homosexuality and who had no clue the parks would be overrun with gays of all types, will react with whatever knee-jerk reaction they have inbred to them (depending on their perspective, of course). Some will have open arms and smiles and some with shock and indignation. This Advocate article, to me, seems to blow the whole behaviour thing out of proportion, but I am sure there were a few disgruntle parents there, it would be a miracle if there weren’t. When we went we were offered positive comments of support and glee from straight and gay alike because of our t-shirts. We had great conversations with people in line wondering why we had pictures of each other as 10 year olds on our chest.
I guess you could say we’re in the “Just here for fun and say Hi” category. After two years away, I am jonesing for some teacup ride.
I would hunt out other books too, like a particularly odd passage in Peter Benchley’s Jaws, where the lead character takes what his wife thinks is an abnormally long piss, bathroom door open while holding a conversation. Now, I don’t have a yellow hankie fetish but at the time I was fascinated by that part and would re-read it often. Partially because of the thought of a man airing his beans and sausage and because of the total lack of privacy the character seemed not to need while peeing. In a house of 5 kids brought up Catholic, to urinate without being shy was beyond imagination. I also recall a book that lived in our TV room for the longest time I think called “The Grizzly” or “The Bear” (an obvious pulpy Jaws rip off from the 70s) where in one chapter, the author describes a woman attempting to make love to a near-tamed bear with disastrous results. But the greatest, most obvious book that formed my emerging sexuality was discovered while wandering downtown Toronto on one of my father’s business trips. I discovered the Sexuality section of the World’s Biggest Bookstore and their copy of “The Joys of Gay Sex”. My mind was blown. I couldn’t afford it and if I could, I doubt I would have had the charcoal-drawn cahones to even attempt the transaction. So I spent many an hour reading it while keeping a sharp eye out for meddling shop clerks.
