Bert & Ernie, "Roommates"?

Now, personally, I have no vested interest in Bert & Ernie Coming Out, as to me they were always best friends who lived together. Now, could they be gay? Yes. Does that mean they're a romantic couple? No. Could one be gay and one be straight? Yes. Could they both be straight? Yes. It's possible, if improbable. ;-) hehehe.

That said, Sesame Street will eventually have an LGBT character. It just will. The show premiered in 1969...America still struggling to deal with racial integration and on comes a TV show set in New York City where people of all walks of life and ethnicity and cultural background are living in harmony together. With Muppets. Check out the earliest seasons - the racial-integration angle is worked hard and it needed to be - this country was split apart by racial tensions and prejudice. Sesame Street showed young children a world where colour was not a divide - cultures were celebrated, differences emrbaced, friendship and understanding giving premium. All good things.

The South African version even has Kami, a Muppet with HIV. North Americans may balk at that but the reality of South Africa's HIV rates in their population show how necessary a character like Kami is to children who are indeed growing up in an HIV-positive world.

LGBT people are a part of culture. Children watching Sesame Street have always had gay family members, most just didn't know it. Many young people (ahem, MOI) who watched the show were/are gay.

It may not be Bert & Ernie, but one day LGBT people will be represented on Sesame Street. And I have a feeling we'll be welcomed warmly.

How Not To Hit On Me

Grindr. Say what you will about it, it's here and it's being used. A lot. Whether it's for people who want "Oral Sex with GPS" or a quick and easy way to find 420-friendly queer dudes to kick back and watch art-films with (don't laugh, it's used for that more than you know) the reality is that Grindr is useful, useless, hilarious and sad in equal measure. You get very little room to "say" things, and it's amazing how people (mis)use the limited characters they have.

A guy will say "muscular" to describe himself. Yes, well, we can see from your picture that you're muscular, so that's a waste of text-space now isn't it? That said, his choosing to waste text space by stating the obvious is actually a terrific indicator that he's a Moron Seeking Other Morons. Duly noted, and thank you for the heads-up.

Now while it's hard to "get a feel" for a person on an app with such 'limited' profile space, the reality is that what is said, what is not said, and the specific way in which things are or are not said still manages to actually give you a pretty darn good idea of who you're chatting with.

Shown here. All was going well, nice friendly flirty chat, nothing overtly sexual either. Friendly, like I said. And then I was asked "Hey, are you Masc?"

Here's what happened next - My text in YELLOW his text in BLUE

*

*Now, we all know "Nor Ono" is Grindr-autocorrect-speak for "Not Into" hehehe!

Then I was sent four text messages informing me that I have "mental issues" and that I'm "really judgmental."

Now, let's stop for a moment to address that. HE is allowed to "pre-judge" all "fems" or "blacks" and not want to meet them, but I'M not allowed to not want to meet someone who prejudges "blacks" and "fems"? He's allowed to not be into blacks and fems but I'm not allowed to be into a guy who's not into blacks and fems? Heaven forbid we be so quick to snap to a judgement based on someone's being so quick to snap to a judgement based on someone's ethnicity. My mind just turned inside out.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I present the approach to logic of a douche-nozzle who will spend his entire life wondering why his experience is so mediocre.

Love, Little Kiwi

*elegant curtsy*