Straight Laced Drag Dancing

If you were uncomfortable watching Jay Leno's tortured interview of Ryan Phillipe on the Tonight Show a couple of weeks ago, there is a reason. He displayed classic Hollywood homophobia, telling far more about the host than the one being interviewed.

Ryan Phillipe's first role was as the first gay teenager on an American soap opera. Jay couldn't let it alone as he implored the straight Phillipe to give his "gayest look" into the camera for him. To Phillipe's credit, he didn't give in and participate. He held his ground.

The gays were not amused. Jay Whitty, a writer who had taken Leno to task in 2006 about Leno's homophobic jokes, wrote an open letter to Leno and posted a picture of his "gayest look" in which his middle finger figured prominently. Soon a website, mygayestlook.com was created as people began sending pictures of their gayest look for posting.

Violet Blue, a columnist for the otherwise staid and conservative San Francisco Chronicle, wrote about Leno's stumble-from-face and how homophobes are likely repressing their own homosexual desires and reactions.

What I enjoy about the article is the fun she has with people's mental images of what it is like living in the Castro, the predominantly gay and lesbian San Francisco neighborhood, where she (and I) live.

She starts with what the Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world falsely think goes on here, quickly debunking their debaucherous myths. She ends by stating what I enjoy about the neighborhood - it is one of the cleanest, safest neighborhoods in San Francisco.

It is one of the only neighborhoods in an otherwise urban town that I have no problem letting my mother wander around alone. Thanks to its well-deserved reputation, it is now one of the most desirable neighborhoods for straight people, like Ms. Blue, as well as gay people. You can't walk down the street without seeing strollers full of gaybies and babies with their proud parents.

But it comes with an enjoyable difference.

I often tell the story of what I think succinctly described Arizona when I lived there. A couple were driving down Baseline Road when they cut off a car full of gang members. The gang opened fire on them. The wife calmly opened her purse, pulled out her revolver and returned fire. The gang quickly broke off pursuit. That was Arizona.

Violet Blue gave me the story that describes my new neighborhood.

A street preacher wandered into the Castro, climbed onto a crate and started a loud tirade against gays and lesbians. A few minutes later, a man dressed in white lace drag arrived with his boombox. He set it up in front of the itinerant preacher, turned up his boombox playing Madonna's "Material Girl" louder than the preacher could shout and began dancing. The preacher finally gave up and left.

Now, that, my friends, is the Castro.

Oh, the stories that street preacher must have told to Pat Robertson of his day in the Castro. I hope he noticed the lube slide at 18th and Castro. It is Leno's favorite feature.