stuff that makes my head hurt: Two Bad Apples Actually

Lot's of stuff happened while I was on sabbatical. I want to start with the local stuff. The Tarrant County Gay Pride parade was Sunday. So we had a rush of charity pageants in August and September. One of the last pageants was the multi-titled Best Friends Club pageant. There were ELEVEN CONTESTANTS! It was an absolute beating. One has to also remember that there were four categories. Mr.- for the dudes, Ms- for the real girls, Ms/Mr- for the drag kings, and Miss- for the drag queens. It was a mess. I was so glad to not have been judging.

Before I move forward let me just say this, I now sympathize and understand why straight girls are confused by drag queens. I have been immersed in gay culture for about fifteen years now. I still don't get drag kings. The pronouns confuse me but I can explain why. They don't look any different from their butch lesbian selves. When they aren't performing they want you to recognize their femininity and that their look is perfectly normal. But when they go out and lip synch dressed and looking exactly like they do all the time you are supposed to recognize the obvious masculinity. The whole thing makes my head hurt.

The pageant managed to raise over $1400. An amazing amount especially in this economy. Any time you have a competition someone has to loose. Said losers ate fistfuls of sour grapes and washed them down with sour mash whiskey. The wednesday after the pageant I talked to one of the bar owners. He told me they spent $1200 dollars to put the show on and that after all the complaining it wasn't worth it. They could have written a check to the charity and saved themselves some heartache. I can't blame him. If you are doing charity shows to win crowns, you are in it for the wrong reasons. I personally do this to raise money for those in need. My ego is in a good place.

Now it's time to step on some toes. The nation has been saddened and terrified by the rash of suicides because of bullying. This is not new! Many years ago I had a distant cousin whose family lives in Arkansas. He put a shotgun in his mouth because he knew his parents would shun him for being gay and he couldn't live if the religion he had been force fed since birth was wrong. His father attempted to take his own life after reading his son's suicide note. It finally hit him that he had failed as a parent. He had failed to teach his child the most basic principles. No matter what anyone says to or does to you, your family will always love you. Parents will love and be proud of their children. Siblings will forever be your siblings. The world outside of your home does not love or respect you. Nor do they have to and you damn sure are not entitled to respect until it is earned. Someone failed to tell these kids who to turn to when their feelings got hurt. That or their outlets weren't listening. A parents job is to ready their children for the world we live in. The parents of these suicides failed! The people who bullied them to the point where they thought their lives were useless failed! Their is a lot of blame to go around but it all falls on poor parents.

How far from reality has our society gotten when we feel it necessary to federally regulate children's behavior?

Lets get to some happiness