I swear it wasn't a prank.

[spacebug]

"Hello, School of Music, thanks for holding, can I help you?"

(a slow, gruff, older man's voice)

"Yes... my... wife and I recieved this mailing... and it has some events..."

"Uh huh." (preparing to look up times, dates, ticket information...)

"...and... there's this thing... about the Gay Men's Chorus."

"Yes..."

"...Now, what's that all about?"

"...Uhm. Well, it's the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus..."

"So, are the rest of your ensembles het'rosexual, then?"

(a little taken aback)
"Well, not specifically..."

"I mean, I don't care a whip what people do in their spare time, you know, but why d'ya gots to go and advertise, you understand? I don't need to know how people are having sex. That's a... an... affront. That's an affront. Could you pass that along for me, please?"

"*ahem* I'll see what I can do."

"You'll tell someone about that?"

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do. Thanks for calling."


I always wish afterwards that I'm more prepared for this kind of thing. I always come up with better things I could have said a half-second to a few days later. I mean, really, what's the difference between this kind of group designation from, say, a specifically Christian Men's Chorus, or something? Oh well. At least he didn't seem like a horrible bigot, just older and set in his ways.

Comments

[birdfigment.livejournal.com]

*laugh*
Oh dear.
In some ways, I see his point, and he doesn't seem too awful. But your point is equally valid. Oh dear. How funny.

[meenk.livejournal.com]

I don't think people like that realize that Gay is a culture, now, not just a sexual preference.

Why a "Gay Men's Chorus?"

[(Anonymous)]

As a Board member of and singer in the Triangle Gay Men's Chorus in Raleigh-Durham, I get that kind of reaction a lot. Many choruses across the country choose not to have "gay" in their name. Many, like mine, do. To us, the fact that it still evokes that kind of response makes the "advertisement" important. Maybe we'll one day live in a world where the statement made by a gay chorus won't be necessary. Until then, we'll keep singing "out".

Brandon M. Bowman

[celias.livejournal.com]

oh how funny...!

[vaxjo.livejournal.com]

I think all of the other orgs (those that are not named "Gay Men's ...") should put their sexual orientation in front of their name.

"The Largely Straight Trumpet Choir"

"The Surprisingly Straight, Mostly Married Pilhofer Jazz Quarter"

"The Insufficiently Sexually Developed Children's Theatre"

"The Repressed, But Sexually Experimental 2003 Univeristy Concert Band"

"The Twenty-Five Percent Extremely Gay Psychopop"

[karlyn-desteno.livejournal.com]

**laughs hysterically**
that makes my day.

To be honest I've always been confused about the Gay Men's Chorus thing--but then again I'm kind of on the young side so I don't remember much of a time when such a name was taboo.
I'm all for renaming all other ensembles with regard to sexual preference, though. I think that that shall be Caly's first major undertaking at her new job!

[vaxjo.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, she'll rise quickly through the university's bureaucracy with such crazy ideas.

Perhaps, instead of sexual preference, they should be labeled with their sexual peformance.

The solution...

[happydoc.livejournal.com]

This is a good point. What sort of world do we live in when people can go around calling things whatever they want? It's just not safe for the children. To this end, I propose a program inwhich every person or group must submit all activities and names of activities to a government monitored board that then distributes mandatory surveys to all registered citizens. While this will mean everyone in this country will spend countless hours approving or rejecting the activities of everyone else, as I see it, this is the only way we're going to make sure stupid old fuckers don't get offended.

We must all do our part to save the feelings of stupid old f**kers or as a culture, we will have to live with this unending conflict and stress.

[sxoidmal.livejournal.com]

Well... I mean, he kind of has a point. I'm not going to say he's right, but he does have a point. When you see a Pride parade, there's a bunch of people making out, a bunch of drag queens and leathermen, it's all sexual-based. How is making out in front of someone going to breach acceptability? It's like they're saying, "The ONLY thing we have to contribute to society is a different way to have sex," and that's not true. Why not point out the things we have in common and say, "See, we're not so different, not so alien."

And I wouldn't say I'm offended, but yeah, seeing "Gay Men's Chorus" is as irrelevant, to me, as seeing "Christian Men's Chorus". Or why don't people go all the way with it and have "O-Positive Blood Type Chorus" and "Judge Judy Fans Chorus"? At the same time, however, I wouldn't call anyone to complain about it. If I felt very strongly about it I suppose I could write the Pioneer Press.