You know, funny story. Back in the early '90's, I used to be on this mailing list for the Indigo Girls. Now, the thing was, about every few months or so, there'd be the same discussion that would come up. Someone on the list, usually a guy, would say something about how Amy and Em weren't *gay*, clearly, because you could just *tell* they were not. Now, this would seem really silly to those of us who knew them from the time they were a local band, because not only did we know they were gay, but we knew their lovers/partners, etc. I mean, you couldn't watch Amy go off on Michelle Malone during a fight, where Amy was singing up all kinds of confrontational shit and Michelle was getting hella drunk at the bar in the back of the room, and NOT know -- it was just a fact of life. But I guess, if you weren't *there*, and you didn't see it, then it was easier to be like those folks on the mailing list. I mean, if there wasn't some sort of *proof* for those people, then it must not be true. So no matter what we locals said, those folks stuck to their guns about how they weren't REALLY gay, or they would have said something, or how this or that lyric totally proved they were not gay. But you know, from the point of view of locals, it was ridiculous, clinging to the myth of heterosexual Indigo Girls. I mean, from the point of view of locals, the proof was right there, in front of our eyes. Incontrovertable.
And of course, now they're both "out", and those people who kept saying, "But there are lyrics that PROVE they're not gay!" look pretty silly.
Now, what's funny about that, is that it's sort of like this other thing that used to happen when I was a kid, where you know, some people had family members that everyone knew you just didn't leave alone with the kids. I had friends, they had an old uncle, or a grandfather, or some cousin, people knew that person "wasn't right", more or less. Often times at holidays, we'd be visiting around, and there would be some relative that we would say hello to, but you know, parents didn't leave us alone with that relative. Somebody heard that a kid was in the den with Uncle Tommy, they'd say, "You go on in there and get your cousin and tell him to come into the kitchen and get some pie." And maybe as kids we didn't know why, but parents did, or aunts and uncles. They knew, and they kept us safe, because people didn't think about calling the police for things like that. Which is sad, terribly sad, but that's how it happened. Families policed themselves, because it didn't occur to folks to tell the sheriff about Uncle Tommy. Because of that, Uncle Tommy might spend his whole twilight years eating off a TV tray table in the den, getting older until he died, and when he did die, people would cluck and shake their heads at his funeral, and say to each other in murmured tones that it was all for the best.
Amy and Em, they weren't "alleged" lesbians -- some people just didn't know the truth yet. And Uncle Tommy and men like him aren't innocent just because they never got convicted. If a parent and local fan in Atlanta tells you to keep your kids away from Uncle Tommy, or Grandaddy Ray, or some comic shop owner, I'd pay attention, because they're probably doing you a favor.
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Date: 2008-12-22 04:21 am (UTC)And of course, now they're both "out", and those people who kept saying, "But there are lyrics that PROVE they're not gay!" look pretty silly.
Now, what's funny about that, is that it's sort of like this other thing that used to happen when I was a kid, where you know, some people had family members that everyone knew you just didn't leave alone with the kids. I had friends, they had an old uncle, or a grandfather, or some cousin, people knew that person "wasn't right", more or less. Often times at holidays, we'd be visiting around, and there would be some relative that we would say hello to, but you know, parents didn't leave us alone with that relative. Somebody heard that a kid was in the den with Uncle Tommy, they'd say, "You go on in there and get your cousin and tell him to come into the kitchen and get some pie." And maybe as kids we didn't know why, but parents did, or aunts and uncles. They knew, and they kept us safe, because people didn't think about calling the police for things like that. Which is sad, terribly sad, but that's how it happened. Families policed themselves, because it didn't occur to folks to tell the sheriff about Uncle Tommy. Because of that, Uncle Tommy might spend his whole twilight years eating off a TV tray table in the den, getting older until he died, and when he did die, people would cluck and shake their heads at his funeral, and say to each other in murmured tones that it was all for the best.
Amy and Em, they weren't "alleged" lesbians -- some people just didn't know the truth yet. And Uncle Tommy and men like him aren't innocent just because they never got convicted. If a parent and local fan in Atlanta tells you to keep your kids away from Uncle Tommy, or Grandaddy Ray, or some comic shop owner, I'd pay attention, because they're probably doing you a favor.