Indifference to Injustice is the Gateway to Hell

That’s right, I said it.  It doesn’t matter if you are a believer in the afterlife, or a believer in “Supreme Beings” or if the “hell” in question is a condition in this life when we settle for less than the best of humanity has to offer. 

I think of this quote and how it might apply to the current tizzy over the development of a mosque in lower Manhattan.  Such a fuss is being made.  Sadly, it takes a silly development such as this to rouse the passion of some and to stir the media frenzy of too many talking heads.

I’m surprised at how many people in the past have misunderstood my stated position on the mosque.  Or perhaps they were intentionally blown out of proportion for some calculated purpose.  In the USA, it is clearly within the rights of the group to build a mosque and having cleared local zoning issues, for any powers to deny them their right to build a mosque would be an injustice as I see it.  More importantly, that’s how the U.S. Constitution sees it.  No clear thinking American should deny the right of the Muslims to build their mosque at 51 Park Place.

Still, the Muslims in their theocentric wisdom must hear the message loud and clear:  the mosque should not be built at 51 Park Place.  Yes everyone knows they CAN build it, far fewer believe they SHOULD build it.  I fall into that category.  As for all of the posturing taking place on both sides of the issue, the circus and poor behavior of those staunchly opposed to the mosque displays the worst about America and they fall squarely in the trap of Muslims who  want to create an American boogeyman.  I am embarrassed by the behavior of Americans whipped into irrational behavior by the current events and the protestations in lower Manhattan.

To be clear, the building at the center of the controversy, two blocks from the World Trade Center,  is not really “worlds away,” as some like to describe.  Two blocks from anything is still in the immediate neighborhood.  In this case, being two blocks away from the World Trade Center placed it close enough for the landing gear and a wheel from  one of the jetliners to crash into the roof and side of the building.  This collateral damage makes the site an actual part of “Ground Zero” in my estimation.

Even in highly congested Manhattan, two blocks away is still close by.  Ask any Manhattan resident and they will say ones  “immediate neighborhood” tends to be 4 or 5 blocks from our location in either direction – at an absolute minimum.  For more active residents, taking myself as an example, my neighborhood is approximately 10 blocks in any direction.  That would be 20 blocks from the far northern tip to the far southern tip of my “neighborhood.”  According to New York’s grid pattern, 20 blocks equals one mile, give or take.  Manhattan is comprised of dozens of such neighborhoods, like a string of pearls on a necklace, one after the other.  My favorite video store, which I patronize regularly is nine blocks from my Manhattan apartment.  It takes me all of 8 minutes to get there on foot if I’m in a hurry.  A more leisurely stroll might take 10-11 minutes.

So, the proposed mosque, being two blocks north and a half block inwards, doesn’t not even come close to being what has been described as “world’s away.”  And here is where the argument is relevant.  There are tens of thousands of survivors of the 9-11 attack.  Many go to work in that neighborhood every day.  The walking wounded are all around us.  I happened to be downtown that day and survived and did many others.  For tens of thousands of us, the scars we carry with us from September 11^th are invisible.  But these are wounds that are with us day and night nearly a decade later.  Psychologically or emotionally, many of those who experienced the attack  in person (not on television from a safe, unknown distance,) may never fully recover.  For many of us, we have lost a decade of our lives in the way our world’s were altered.  Nearly a decade later I pass Ground Zero and shake my head in disgust at all of the tourists, primarily Americans who come to gawk.  Especially just after the attack, when the streets reopened to civilian traffic, tourists were having their picture taken and the ensuing excitable frenzy resembled Carnival more than it did a burial ground.  Shameful then and it is shameful now.

Out of consideration for so many people who continue to live with the trauma of the attack, the mosque, if it had “community interests” in mind, above all else, would agree internally, out of “sensitivity” to the community and to show grace and tolerance and understanding, to do the right thing and move the mosque beyond what is still considered the immediate neighborhood.  The leadership of the mosque project, if they were attuned to the feelings of the community and if they wanted to do the right thing, would have tabled the project before it started to circulate among the media outlets.  It tells me the mosque leadership either does not have the better interests of the community in mind or that perhaps this is all one big publicity stunt.  Now after weeks of negative reactions from both the public and the media, mosque leaders can claim to take the high road but that the exercise exposes just how narrow minded and bigoted America really is!  You see!  They’ll say…there is no freedom of religion in America!  “We pulled back the curtain and showed the world the reality!” mosque leaders will scream.  I can already see this playing out on Al Jazeera and media outlets throughout the Middle East.

New York City as a geographic territory is larger than 300 square miles.  New York City is larger than 51 separate nation-states that are scattered around the globe.  There are countless other places to build their mosque in New York City.  The Governor of New York, Gov. David Patterson even offered to give the Muslim community other land for free to satisfy any slighted notions.  Free land in New York City?  What other group gets an offer like that?  Yet the group is determined at this stage in the development to pursue a mosque directly in Ground Zero.  If they insist on building another mosque in the downtown area, as other mosques already exist, it should follow the cultural definition of a neighborhood and out of respect for those who survived the heinous attacks and out of respect for all of those who lost a loved one, move their mosque at least eight more blocks away so that it is not in the immediate vicinity.  Finally, for those who don’t know, downtown Manhattan is not exactly the home of a large residential Muslim community.  People would have to commute into downtown to use the facility.  This is important to recognize, because it shoots a hole in the argument that having the mosque at 51 Park Place is a necessity.

In Manhattan, like many other urban cores around the world that have been centuries in the making, we walk among the ghosts of those who have fallen before us.  Nearly every square block of lower Manhattan represents some ghastly site, some atrocious act.  Men and women who died but whose mere existence and struggles were simply swept under the carpet of history.  In Manhattan, London, Beijing or any city – take your pick, countless numbers have died and without wealth, fame and or prominence were not even worthy of a footnote in history books.  Walking along the streets of Greenwich Village, I pass countless row houses and townhomes and think how many people inside those walls took their last breath and closed their eyes for good.  I walk past shops where robberies, kidnappings and murders occurred and not even a plaque memorializing the events hang on the wall.  People want to forget the horrors, yet death, history and signs of rebirth are all around us.  In one hundred years, when all of the survivors of the World Trade Center attack are dead, the events of September 11^th may seem like a footnote in American history.  And in 400 years if America as we know it still exists, the horrors of 9-11 will undoubtedly be supplanted by more recent, more horrifying events that capture the public’s attention.  That – THAT, would be the perfect time to build a mosque within the neighborhood of Ground Zero.

Some have compared the building of this mosque to the Japanese building a “cultural center” at the entrance to Pearl Harbor, Newt Gingrich among them.   Others have rightfully asked if the Germans would allow a Youth Center for Aryan teens to be built across the street from Auschwitz.  Still other examples beg the question if an American Museum of Military History would be tolerated at Ground Zero of Nagasaki or Hiroshima and lastly, what would be the reaction to the Celtic League of Western New York should they choose to celebrate the courage, personal fortitude and the freedom of defending American liberty of one Timothy McVeigh and erect a statue to him across from the sight of his Oklahoma City bombing.  Many on the far left have criticized such comparisons.  I am prompted to throw my martini at my flat screen when Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann  ridicule mosque opponents as hateful bigots too closed minded to accept tolerance and diversity in a greater world.  I am especially disappointed with my Gay sister Rachel Maddow.  In the third edition of “The Gay State” which was released this summer, I proclaimed Ms. Maddow as “one of the greatest Lesbians in the history of the world.”  She, of all the talking heads, as much as I adore her and support her right to condemn others by virtue of her place on the airwaves, should know much better.  Rachel Maddow, a Lesbian scholar and professional; no empty-headed suit is she; knows full well that no group in all of the recorded history of the world has done more to savagely brutalize, murder, oppress and obliterate the global Gay community as the hate-filled Muslims.  Frankly, the Nazi’s killed fewer Gay people than have the Muslims.    I at least expected fairness from her, knowing the atrocities the Muslims have been capable of.  But her unbridled  political correctness and uncontained elitism is preventing her from seeing all sides of the issue and handling it fairly. 

So as I write this and you, gentle reader, digest my words, know that  I merely am trying to explain and flush out my answer to readers who have reacted negatively to my earlier statements.  However, I have not changed my position in the slightest and I stand by my earlier posting on the mosque debate.  My concern in writing is not to dictate what the American policy should be.  My concern is what the policy would be in our Gay nation-state.  In our Gay nation-state, mosques, just as all houses of worship, will be allowed if the followers of a particular faith desire one.  As I have already stated repeatedly, more damage has been done to my people in houses of worship than any other singular type of facility in all of  world history.  So in our Gay nation-state, no religion will be allowed to spew their hateful venom on our shores.  They can preach the best they have to offer, but we will not allow them to bring their condemnations into our new homeland.

Furthermore, churches will be required to keep their messages sequestered within their houses of worship.  Like our military, and soldiers like the clergy, will remain in their barracks or churches until called upon.  They will not and cannot pollute the greater good of society with their narrow theocentric views.

All faiths will be welcome in our Gay nation-state.  Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam will be welcome as will every other religion, great, large or small.  And hundreds of other, smaller faiths will receive the same welcome mat.  Quakers, Amish, Animists and Wiccan’s will have their edifices  from which to speak of love and the betterment of humankind within their houses of worship.  If a group of believers bow down and hail the Slinky toy, it is their choosing and no concern of the government.

Throughout the world, some cities enact zoning to keep problematic industries from sprouting up in otherwise pleasant neighborhoods.  Toward that end, just as some cities keep their strip joints and hoses of “exotic dance” and brothels in certain districts, we will enforce a similar policy to keep all religious houses in one district or zone.  We will establish this zone from the very beginning of our Gay nation-state so this zone will be given its due prominence, affording ease and convenience to all worshippers.  We will build this zone to complement grand houses of worship and the small centers of niche religions.  I personally favor an enormous circle with a magnificent park in the center.  IT would be very contemplative, soothing and soulful place.  ON the outer ring of the circle would house all of the religious compounds.  Cathedrals of every order would be built where congregants could practice their piety.  Religious campuses and schools would be built side by side, allowing for greater tolerance and understanding among them all.

We envision a house of Catholic worship will be next to a compound for Taoists.  The Presbyterians will have a splendid center next to the practicing Sunnis.  A Jewish Synagogue  would be built next to a home for the Amish.  And so on and so forth.  Side by side.  In fellowship and mutual respect.  No one in our Gay nation-state will be allowed to feel slighted when it comes to religious freedom.  Yet we will reserve the right to establish boundaries of physicality and where such reverence will be performed for the general public.  As all of these world’s religions jostle about to show they follow one true God, let them begin by making concessions and accommodations to one another.  I believe the Gay society, more than any other society in the world, understands the necessity for tolerance and the need for sensitivity.  The Muslims, just one of many religions, could stand to learn a bit about fellowship and tolerance from us.  Otherwise, this whole kerfuffle about the Ground Zero mosque could have been avoided.  They should no more build their mosque adjacent to Ground Zero than the Gay culture would insist on building a Gay Social and Cultural Center next to an elementary school in the most conservative town you could think of in, say South Carolina, Mississippi or Oklahoma.  Obviously, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Gay culture or Gay society.  But we all know our building such a facility next to an elementary school would only serve to enflame the parents and members of the school.   We are sensitive enough to the feelings and perspectives of others that we would not choose to disrupt and damage others to make a point.  We could even build a Gay church next to the elementary school, but again, why?

Finally, as for the quote that serves as the headline to this article:  “Indifference to Injustice is the Gateway to Hell.”  The quote is from artist Harriet Feigenbaum.  It can be seen etched into the New York State Supreme Court building and might be a warning to those who will not stand and defend their rights.  The Gay nation-state, as in the United States, we will defend our citizens and their right to worship freely and as they choose.  But no group, and to the Muslims of lower Manhattan, I now speak directly to you; no group will be allowed to use their pious doctrine to browbeat their fellow citizenry into having its religious doctrine shoved where it isn’t welcome.

And that I hope, is my final word on this subject.

Gay Nationalists Vow To Teach Muslims Importance of Tolerance

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 13, 2010

Contact:  Jack Flannigan                                                                                           

Press Secretary                        

The FIGS Party                                                                                     

Old Chelsea Station, #2                                                                        

New York, NY  10113

 

Gay Nationalists Vow To Teach Muslims Importance of Tolerance

(New York, NY)          The international Gay community has been coalescing in recent years to establish the world’s first politically autonomous Gay-majority nation—state.  Under the banner of the FIGS (Free, Independent Gay State) Party with their President Garrett Graham at the helm, the organization is opening new offices in New York.

          Weighing in on the 911 Ground Zero revitalization efforts, the organization expressed a desire to support the neighborhood rebirth, in lieu of being geographically closer to its activities with other international bodies associated with the United Nations.  To further the organization’s outreach objectives, the international body representing the global Gay community is seeking a location in close proximity to the World Trade Center site as well as the proposed Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center.

          “Officials with the FIGS Party stated the international Gay community is declaring they stand shoulder to shoulder with all democratic, freedom—loving citizens of the world who  bow their heads to all of those who perished in the 911 attack on liberty,” according to Jack Flannigan, Press Secretary.

          The FIGS—New York headquarters will eventually become the New York Consular offices for the international governmental body.  According to FIGS President Garrett Graham, “We see this as an opportunity to increase dialogue and understanding within the Muslim community.  If Islam is to be a “great religion,” as it likes to call itself, they must stop their savage violence and discrimination against our people.  The global Gay community has endured hatred, executions, crimes against humanity and brutal oppression at the hands of the Muslim’s for thousands of years.”

          America offers the world a freedom of religion that is a shining example of tolerance.  It should inspire all of us to forgive the Muslims for their heinous atrocities against us, for their actions are rooted in ignorance and they know not what they do.  Nor should we judge them, as in time, from a higher power, they will receive their own fiery brand of justice for the unending persecution they have foisted upon our people.  Hate, especially when cloaked in religion from the posturing pious, must be eradicated.” Graham said.

          According to Jack Flannigan, the FIGS Party Manhattan offices will become a beacon for the global Gay culture and will showcase the finest it offers up to the world.  We can foresee our stylishly attired “hostesses” at the doorway, greeting all of our neighbor’s morning, noon and night.  What we can do to expose the religious, indeed all people, to the best our society has to offer, will surely pave the way to improved global relations, Flannigan stated.  They are proposing the international Gay cultural center be named after Mark Bingham, one of the 911 hero’s who prevented United flight 93 from possibly crashing into the US Capitol or the White House and instead brought the plane down in a rural Pennsylvania field.

          The FIGS Party continues to negotiate for suitable leasing terms.

#   #   #

For additional information, contact

Jack Flannigan, 347-949-3747

Should Israel Exist?

Israel, Palestine and the Gay Doctrine.

The answer to whether Israel should exist is unmistakably and unequivocally  yes.  Israel should exist and has every right to exist.  May it thrive and prosper like few other nations in history.  Unlike many others who take a stand on the Israeli solution, I think too many posture and pontificate without having anything at risk in the debate.  As a leader of a people – the Gay community and an elected leader of the FIGS Party – the Free, Independent Gay State Party, I can tell you that the issue is anything but a sterile academic debate when it comes to freedom, independence and the very survival of a people.  And unlike so many who take a stand on Israel, I am not among the chorus who say the solution to the Middle East involves the relocation of Israel.  As a people, they have all ready been grossly and unjustly wronged.

Having said that, let me be very clear.  Any group – any minority that has been wronged, should be made whole and then some.  My people, the people of the Gay State for instance, are due for the opportunity to be made whole by the entire international community.  It should be made whole and then some.  Its conditions deserve to be improved upon as never before.  Does it even the score for thousands of years of savage and brutal oppression?  No, it doesn’t.  It does however, give the oppressors an opportunity to finally do the right thing and make amends for the past injustices they have wrought on the Gay people.

The Israeli’s on the other hand, have been made whole, but they have not yet received their “and then some.”  The international community and Israel’s Middle East neighbors in particular, need to atone for the treatment they have foisted on the Israeli people.  And in the spirit of equality and fairness, just as the people of the Gay State need to be made whole and then some, Palestinians deserve nothing less in fair and equitable treatment.   As any reader of “The Gay State” all ready knows, I do not favor an approach that involves degrees of equality.  Even in the most enlightened and progressive nations on Earth, Gays are still very often treated as first class taxpayers and second class citizens.  We know that in large swaths of the American landscape, Gays experience nothing short of the internationally regarded “American Gay Apartheid.”  This incremental approach to achieving equality is wrong-headed and ultimately doomed to fail.

So what does the international community do to address the Palestinian issue?  What would you want if YOU were left to endure a life of squalor and poverty amid a prison-like confinement that batters the human soul?  I don’t know of one Israeli family that would trade places with a Palestinian family.  The Palestinians need to be treated – deserve to be treated humanely.  No one – Gay, Israeli, American, nor any other people would want the unspeakable conditions forced on the Palestinians to fall upon them.  The disgust is how the international community merely turns a blind eye to their unimaginable suffering.  This is a war for justice and humanity and as always in these wars, few heed the sense of urgency.  Toward this end, the Palestinians need to be made whole and then some.  Every day that the world hesitates in solving this dilemma, more extremists and more terrorists are created.  This writer says slash a portion of the revenue pumped into the military industrial complex and instead spend the money building bridges, enhancing communities and lifting children up to a place where they can see a brighter future for themselves.

The issue in most practical terms, boils down to land and freedom.  The land will not be land taken from Israel.  This is clear, obvious and non-negotiable.  The people of Israel have all ready been sufficiently wronged by international powers who have made a colossal mess of things.  Instead, the land for the Palestinians will be land bought and paid for by the international community.  How many billions of dollars will the international community invest to solve one of the world’s great injustices and in the process bring true and lasting peace to the Middle East?  Conversely, which nation is willing to step up and be willing to cede a portion of its land for a very handsome price?    Jordan?  Egypt? Syria?  Or perhaps somewhere a bit more exotic; Libya, Iraq or Saudi Arabia for example?  Some say the Palestinians, like old prisoners, do not easily leave their cells.  They will not go quietly from their ancestral homeland.  Like countless others who left their homeland to provide a better life for their children and like so many American’s who have no sense of place, it is now the Palestinians who need to relocate to offer a fresh start for its families and a brighter future for its children.  The Irish nearly emptied their homeland a century ago in search of a new start.  At this moment, the citizens of Nauru and Kiribati are leaving their homelands in droves to make a new start as their homelands sink into the Pacific.  Many more nations will face similar fates in the years to come.  Similarly, the Palestinians need to exit the refugee squatter camps they call home and build something new and grander than they have ever had.  Beautiful homes, excellent schools, modern healthcare and employment awaits the Palestinians in their new homeland.  There is no shame in starting over.  Doing so may be the unique American optimism but conditions may well prove to be better than ever before.

There was a time in the late 1800’s when the location of a future Jewish State was considered in far-away Argentina or even the Orient.  Had the Jewish State followed through on Theodor Herzl’s concept, they might not be in the Middle-East and the world would not find itself in such dreary circumstances.   An infrastructure should be built and the Palestinian’s given a chance to prosper according to their own drive and merit.  This is a new beginning that will vastly improve the quality of life for the Palestinian people for generations to come.  For example, for the people of the Gay State, we want nothing more than the politically autonomous territory where we can be left to live in peace and to live according to our ability and drive.  If we as a people should utterly fail, we have no one to blame but ourselves.  The Palestinians deserve nothing less.  Palestinian parents will finally be able to provide their children with safety, freedom, modern conveniences, a sense of peace and liberty, and the ability to allow their children to grow up and experience the joy and prosperity we all wish for our families.

I think all parties agree the current scenario is unpalatable all the way around.  All parties should be made whole and then some.  For all of the suffering and past injustices, the international community needs to step up and do the right thing.  This might well be the last best chance to secure a lasting peace that could transform the Middle-East.

In the 21^st century, is humankind mature enough to realize that some cultures do not blend well with others?  That nations around the world subject our Gay citizens to life imprison or sentence them to death because of who we are and who we love is all the evidence the we need.  We also surely must admit that humanity is not yet mature enough for diverse societies to coexist within one state.  Many claim the Israeli’s should be condemned for their ongoing aggressiveness.  Many say the Palestinians are a front for terrorism.  For my people, the Gay people, one of our thirteen Gaymandments is forgiveness.  We work on forgiving those who continue to attack us, even after Gay people have endured thousands of years of mistreatment.  Without forgiveness from both the Israeli’s and the Palestinians, the festering wounds from the ongoing hostility will prevent both sides from reaching a greater and higher plain.  Therefore, let us agree to separate, peaceably, fairly for the betterment of all peoples involved.  With a free and prosperous Israel, a free and prosperous Palestine, all of humanity can exhale.  As for Israel, it should exist and be allowed to thrive in peace.  So too should the Palestinians and even the Gay State which I proudly represent.

My Winter Respite: SoBe to Key West, 2010

As I had said yesterday, if there is a Gay Mecca on the southern mainland of the U.S., it is the South Beach district of Miami  Beach.  It has been this way for at least the last 25 years.  There are plenty of new luxe hotels and resorts to choose from.    What I like most about South Beach (SoBe) is its similarities with New Yorks Manhattan.  Everyone co-mingles, cheek by jowl, every nationality can be found here — a stunningly beautiful mixture of diversity.

My most pleasurable activities in SoBe tend to be free, surprisingly enough, or economically priced and widely available to all.  I try to avoid the grooves of ritual and routine, but my favorite start to a day in South Beach goes something like this: let’s start with being awake and dressed to leave the condo, safe enough.  We take a short stroll to the News Care for breakfast alfresco.  The scenery is beautiful, the eye candy delicious and breakfast a real pleasure.  Orange juice, caffe au lait, two fried egg whites, and some melon while reading a number of publications the old-fashioned way — in print form and it’s a perfect combination to ease into the day.  I invariably bump into someone I know at the News Cafe as it’s a popular gathering spot for our people.  I like to follow-up breakfast with a walk through SoBe’s oceanfront park/promenade.  More eye candy and the wonderful feeling of the soothing warmth of the morning sun, sans the blazing south Florida heat one experiences later in the day.

By the time I’m back in the condo, it’s almost 10am; 4 hours gone — poof! — since first opening my eyes.  During the day, I may go online a couple of times, trying desperately to relax and avoid thoughts of ongoing projects which is nearly impossible.  From time to time, I’ll stroll out the patio doors and cool off in the pool, swim a few laps and make a few calls, talk to family, friends and a few colleagues, although I try to avoid work and usually fail at this.

A couple of times a week I’ll place a call to the marina manager and have the boat prepped.  It usually takes just a few minutes and Rafael has it all gassed up, wiped down and ready to go.  We’ll normally cruise along one of my favorites routes: up the Intracoastal, cross out into the open ocean, south passed SoBe (and the News Cafe) perhaps stopping for lunch or cocktails on Key Biscayne or Fisher Island, before returning.  I love to do a full day trip or an overnighter to Palm Beach or south into the Keys.  I don’t do this often enough because of the time involved, but from my perspective, it’s an enjoyable pursuit.  It satisfies my craving of an “adventure” and leaves me happy and fulfilled.  I often find myself reminiscing about my first long distance kayaking trip.  In preparation for the Seattle to Alaska trip I yakked from Miami to Key West.  I battled ferocious tidal currents on that trip as I chose to ignore the tidal charts.  I also tangled with mangrove swamps, to many sharks (for me, one is too many!) and I leaned a lot on that trip.  I often will throw myself into a situation, confident I’ll figure a way out.  Sometimes it backfires, but I personally prefer the spontaneity over regimentation.

Life in Miami Beach revolves around the celebration of food to some extent.  Dinner goes on for hours, which is nothing new to some of my European or Latin friends, but many North American merely eat for the sake of consuming; which is why I believe so many chain restaurant exist in America.  Beyond the argument of quantity-vs-quality, many prefer the huge portions of something merely acceptable, over a smaller taste of cuisine that is truly exquisite

My nightclubbing days are mostly behind me.  On occasion we’ll be out socializing, celebrating or tearing up the dance floor at one of the clubs, but not very often.  Those days are mostly behind me.  Many clubgoers are just drifting off to slumber when I’m waking up.  It is the old saying, “You can have anything you want in this world, you just can’t have everything.”  I now choose to awake refreshed, without the sense  that a freight train is chugging through my skull.

One of my favorite road trips in the U.S. is the trip from SoBe to Key West.  If one hurries or does it too frequently, or in the height of tourist season, the traffic and congestion is irritating and sucks all of the pleasure out of the experience.

But the first time I take this drive every winter is glorious.  To my thinking, the scenery, the nature and the modernity of travel convenience makes it a total pleasure.  With every passing, spectacular mile we are closer to an American Gay Mecca and the world’s first provisional Gay capital of the modern era.

Of course, nothing stays the same.  All of us become “old timers” if we live long enough.  And to my way of thinking, Key West isn’t what it use to be.  Presently, there are too many non-Gays on the scene who have forever altered the texture of our Homo-haven.  Straight, beer bellied, T-Shirt wearing Midwesterners and their similarly clad husbands driving motor homes have invaded.  They examine the Gay in their natural habitat as one might examine the four-legged creatures in a petting zoo or animal preserve.  They cast their aspersions and judgments without being asked.  Fudge shops and T-Shirt shops litter the main shopping district.  With more popularity there is more commerce and expansion.  A multi-million dollar cruise terminal brings in yet even more gawking and confused Straights.  So they come by land and they come by sea.  They invade even during the traditionally slow seasons.  Add to the mix the rowdy collegians — the worst being Spring Break.

Invariably, a certain percentage of the drunken “Straight” males  feel the need to defend their manly status by verbally confronting of physically beating up one of the Key West Gays, before spewing their beer-laden vomit all over Duval St.  It’s a ritual that seems to happen almost on a daily basis.

Oh, how I wish the Straights would stick with their Daytona Beach, Myrtle Beach and the dozens of other beach destinations that, like locusts, they destroy before moving on.  So you may ask yourself, why does Garrett even bother to continue to visit to Key West?

It’s a good question and you might be surprised at the answer.  Tomorrow.