Robert drew in his breath, held it, and released it.
“Repeat,” he said to himself, while listening to his dinner companion, Ralph, once again carry on about Atlanta Gay Pride weekend.
“I’m making a point of getting out of town,” Ralph, 27, said. “Being gay is just part of who I am, and I don’t see the point of exhibiting myself amid parade floats with drag queens and men in ass-less leather pants in front of television cameras….”
“Because the thousands of straight people who come out to see the parade are so offended by it, right?” Robert snapped. “Yet, somehow, this didn’t keep a majority from favoring the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Now, most favor gay marriage. So you have to wonder if it’s straights or gays who worry that people are so stupid, they generalize basically carnival scenes to day-to-day gay life. I know Mardis Gras convinced me that all women resent wearing shirts.”