G-Lexington
Lex. Icon. Devil.
I've lived in Colorado, for the most part, since 1981. If you follow the news even casually, you've seen the state. Where the state flower - the columbine - now means a couple kids in trenchcoats shooting their fellow students. Where a little girl beauty pageant queens gets murdered (and, later, "captures the nation's heart" or something). Where visiting musicians and professional athletes get shot in their cars. Where guys decide to fly their twin-engine planes into the White House in an effort to stop the liberal conspiracy. Where all gay rights proposals get defeated on the ballot with the rhetoric that it's "one step closer to legalizing pedophilia and bestiality". And where anti-gay preachers who have the president's ear have sex with call guys, then get cured within a month...and this not even the most powerful anti-gay church in the state (hey, there, Focus on the Family).
So I guess it isn't too surprising when somebody asks me, "Why would any homosexual choose to live in Colorado?" The only surprise was this was asked by a former resident, a college professor who presumably would know better.
So why would I choose to live here? Well, there's the obvious stuff. I grew up here. I have plenty of friends. I know the area very well. I enjoy the pace of the city, having lots of things to do, but not feeling swallowed up by it all. I even have gotten used to the freaky weather (although any time it wants to stop snowing this winter would be fine with me).
But beyond that.
I have two jobs. I came out at both places almost immediately. It's not an issue at all at either one. At my main job, my supervisor is also gay, and there are several other gay men and women working there. At job number two, there's also a couple other gay folks there. Everyone is so cool with i that we all joke about it from time to time - not in a mean-spirited way, but in that same way you rib Bob from accounting for coming in late every day, or Judy for her coffee addiction. I love to laugh, and nothing makes me feel like "one of the group" so much as a bit of well-intentioned laughter.
I've moved a couple times within the city. Once I rented a room from a youngish woman with a large house in the suburbs. She was a very Christian woman - she had a large picture of the Ten Commandments framed on the wall - and had two other rooms rented out to truckers. (Yes. A young Christian woman, two truckers and a homosexual. Either that's a set up to a joke, or a new series on Fox.) When she rented the room to me, she said, "If you have a girlfriend over for the night...or a boyfriend, if you're gay...that's fine. Just keep the door closed." I lived there for two years, then moved to an apartment in the city, owned by a retired WWII vet and his wife. They told me, "Feel free to have girlfriends over. Or boyfriends. Whichever you like."
Due to an insurance merry-go-round ride, I've had to get a new doctor twice. Each time, the doctor has been really cool with everything. Whenever I get sick, they don't immediately schedule an AIDS test. (I've heard stories...)
I've done some work at a community theater down the street a-ways. It's pretty easy to find - it's located between the large leather bar, and the cafe where they have drag queen bingo brunch.
The Gay Pride Parade goes by my place each year. It takes over an hour to go by. Drag queens, leather daddies, gay Hispanics, gay Native Americans, "dykes on bikes", roller derby queens, gay bowlers, lesbian firefighters, you name it. Advertisers fight for spots in the parade - Frontier Airlines had guys walking down the street dressed as airplane seats. The governor and several state representatives marched along, and the grand marshall was the mayor of Denver.
There's a lot of love in the Hate State. And I love it here.
Lex
So I guess it isn't too surprising when somebody asks me, "Why would any homosexual choose to live in Colorado?" The only surprise was this was asked by a former resident, a college professor who presumably would know better.
So why would I choose to live here? Well, there's the obvious stuff. I grew up here. I have plenty of friends. I know the area very well. I enjoy the pace of the city, having lots of things to do, but not feeling swallowed up by it all. I even have gotten used to the freaky weather (although any time it wants to stop snowing this winter would be fine with me).
But beyond that.
I have two jobs. I came out at both places almost immediately. It's not an issue at all at either one. At my main job, my supervisor is also gay, and there are several other gay men and women working there. At job number two, there's also a couple other gay folks there. Everyone is so cool with i that we all joke about it from time to time - not in a mean-spirited way, but in that same way you rib Bob from accounting for coming in late every day, or Judy for her coffee addiction. I love to laugh, and nothing makes me feel like "one of the group" so much as a bit of well-intentioned laughter.
I've moved a couple times within the city. Once I rented a room from a youngish woman with a large house in the suburbs. She was a very Christian woman - she had a large picture of the Ten Commandments framed on the wall - and had two other rooms rented out to truckers. (Yes. A young Christian woman, two truckers and a homosexual. Either that's a set up to a joke, or a new series on Fox.) When she rented the room to me, she said, "If you have a girlfriend over for the night...or a boyfriend, if you're gay...that's fine. Just keep the door closed." I lived there for two years, then moved to an apartment in the city, owned by a retired WWII vet and his wife. They told me, "Feel free to have girlfriends over. Or boyfriends. Whichever you like."
Due to an insurance merry-go-round ride, I've had to get a new doctor twice. Each time, the doctor has been really cool with everything. Whenever I get sick, they don't immediately schedule an AIDS test. (I've heard stories...)
I've done some work at a community theater down the street a-ways. It's pretty easy to find - it's located between the large leather bar, and the cafe where they have drag queen bingo brunch.
The Gay Pride Parade goes by my place each year. It takes over an hour to go by. Drag queens, leather daddies, gay Hispanics, gay Native Americans, "dykes on bikes", roller derby queens, gay bowlers, lesbian firefighters, you name it. Advertisers fight for spots in the parade - Frontier Airlines had guys walking down the street dressed as airplane seats. The governor and several state representatives marched along, and the grand marshall was the mayor of Denver.
There's a lot of love in the Hate State. And I love it here.
Lex