Pal Joey - First, you are a real first class jerk. You have one heck of a lot of nerve questioning my parental skills. My wife and I did quite a good job raising our daughters. They are intelligent, talented, caring and accepting young woman. Both of them are young professionals in the arts so they are very comfortable with diversity of all kinds. BTW - my daughters went to a Northwest School Of The Arts in Charlotte NC and it is known for the student body being wonderfully acceptable to diversity (racially and sexual orientation). If you had bothered to read all my posts, you would have noticed that I said I would not have complained about the "Kinky Boots" performance if it occurred when my children were young (see below). That being said, I understood that some parents might not feel the same way.
"I have no problem with the show, I am just saying I can understand some parents not wanting to have to go into explaining to young childen why a man is wearing women's boots. If my children were still young and saw it would I have complained, the answer is no but once again that is me."
I read your posts. All told, it seemed like you were indeed complaining--except you were doing in passive-aggressively and disingenuously by saying (repeatedly) "I myself wouldn't find this objectionable but I totally, completely, unreservedly and absolutely understand why others would. Not that I would have found it objectionable--some of my best friends are [fill in the minority], but it makes perfect sense why those other parents (who are not me--understand?) would have. I mean, really. You know?"
I'm sure your daughters are indeed talented, caring and accepting young women...who would never call stoop to calling someone a "jerk" on an Internet chat board the way their father always does.
Referencing to Jordan's earlier post, according to Harvey Fierstein on Huffington Post, Lola is straight and I think he was in the movie. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/harvey-fierstein-kinky-boots_n_3292504.html An interesting nuance that would have made KB a better show, IMHO. Unfortunately, Billy Porter ignored that and chose to play him gay. I wonder how the nutjobbers would have dealt with a "straight man in a dress conversation." A nuance too far...?
You've got to be taught to hate and fear, You've got to be taught from year to year, It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear, You've got to be carefully taught....
You've got to be taught before it's too late, Before you are six or seven or eight, To hate all the people your relatives hate, You've got to be carefully taught!
"I'm sure your daughter are indeed talented, caring and accepting young women...who would never call stoop to calling someone a "jerk" on an Internet chat board the way their father always does."
I think my daughters would understand why their father called someone a "jerk"(that is pretty mild) on the internet for questioning the parenting skills of their father because he expresses a opinion.
Ok, well as a Brit I find this debate hilarious. As one of many millions of children across the UK I attended family pantomimes growing up as a child at Christmas time, which always have men dressed in drag. I can't say it ever messed me up. Everyone I have spoken to in the last few days agrees, and no one can remember an awkward conversation about men dressing in ladies clothes with their parents, or with their own children. Pantomimes happen in nearly every non-west end theatre up and down the land at this time of year, welcoming ages 3+. So kinky boots is A SHOW. If you don't want to go into the details then just Explain to your children it's make believe so people can dress up how ever they like.
Before we call a truce on impugning anyone's parenting skills, for the record, the people who started it were the right-wing nut jobs who said Kinky Boots's inclusion in the parade was bad for kids.
The only thing I saw on Thanksgiving that's bad for kids was needless fear and hatred of those different from oneself. Prejudice and bullying ruin lives. In Russia, Putin is taking kids away from parents discovered to be gay. In much of the world today, homosexuality is criminalized by restrictions on expression, life imprisonment, or the death penalty (see map below). The message that LGBT people must stay hidden to protect children -- heard in this country on Fox News after the parade -- is loathsome and idiotic.
There's a place for everyone at our table. That's the message of Thanksgiving.
I'm curious. Does anyone feel there should be tolerance toward any of those "right-wing nut jobs"? They have been following the tenants of their faith since birth.
Many are cut from the same fabric as their parents who would not allow a black football player on their team 50 years ago.
I have no problem with Kinky Boots in the parade. I would have no problem at all with my child seeing it even 25 years ago when he was 5 years old, although he would not have understood it.
I just happen to think that tolerance is a two way street that begins with empathy and is time sensitive.
But not Kinky Boots because... they show Drag Queens more realistically than just camp fests who wear crazy costumes? If the Rockettes are appropriate enough for the parade, then surely Kinky Boots is. People need to get the tightwads out of their asses.
Wanna know what show's performance without any sort of context is inappropriate? Matilda's. What kind of message is 'Revolting Children' sending? Not to mention the countless kids shows that feature cross dressing purely as a gag, but as soon as it's not a joke it's inappropriate. Some real good consistency.
"Does anyone feel there should be tolerance toward any of those 'right-wing nut jobs'?"
There should be tolerance for people of all political opinions, conservative and progressive. There is, and they've expressed their opinions on Twitter, and on this board. But bigotry, bullying, and violation of human rights harm kids. People have the right to cry out against them, and should.
In our great-grandparents' lifetime, black people didn't have the right to status as fully human. It took a war to get it. In our grandparents', women didn't have the right to vote. In our parents', people of different races didn't have the right to marry in many states. In ours, gay people still don't in most. In many countries of the world, they don't even have the right to liberty, or life (in case you missed the map, it's below). Wherever bigotry exists, bigots feel morally justified.
LGBT people should have the right to participate in the Thanksgiving parade. People who don't want to see them have the right to turn the TV off. Their kids have the right to outgrow their parents' bigotry. They will.