San Francisco Pride 2009

[Wonderful Electric]

If any of you were at the San Francisco Pride Parade/Fair last weekend, it was amazing! I have never seen so many men in skirts in my life!

[SkirtedViking]

If it is connected to homosexuals there are enough stereotypes linking men in skirts with gay people probably due to such parades.Certainly not useful to the men in skirt movement in my opinion.

[straightfairy]

That may be true, but gay men are historically somewhat more to the forefront of fashion trends, so if they (WE) create a demand, high street retailers may actually start designing and making proper mens skirts, instead of just the specialist firms.

[AMM]

If it is connected to homosexuals there are enough stereotypes linking men in skirts with gay people probably due to such parades.Certainly not useful to the men in skirt movement in my opinion.

I suppose it depends upon where you live.

Around here, there's a stereotype that gay men have a much better sense of style than straight men -- cf. a recent TV series called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy -- so associating men-in-skirts with "gay" might start getting people to see it as "trendy" rather than "kinky."

FWIW, Utilikilts and kilts that look like Utilikilts are already fairly popular in the gay community, perhaps because Utilikilts Co. have succeeded in positioning their products as both masculine and sexual.

There is nothing worse than double standard!

Actually, I can think of a lot of things that are worse. Being a Rwandan Tutsi during the recent massacres, dying of cancer, being "waterboarded," ....

[AMM]

If any of you were at the San Francisco Pride Parade/Fair last weekend, it was amazing! I have never seen so many men in skirts in my life!

What kinds of skirts? Do you have any pictures, or links to articles with pictures of some of these men?

[Pythos]

The second response is very close to what I was thinking.

As I have stated many times before I am tired of being called what I am not because I wear skirts.

I am also quite fed up with the term "oh that's different" when it comes to women wearing pants. IT IS NOT DIFFERENT.

But I digress.

I think it is highly unfair that people run the risk of losing their jobs or reputation based off the fact they wear skirts (if they are male). What is about the skirt wearing that is so wrong. Is it the possibility that the guy is gay? So in essense you fired the person because of their percieved sexual orientation. That is illegal as far as I can tell. Or how about firing them because they acted feminine. So you fired them because they are more like a woman than a man? Wouldn't that be GENDER discrimination?

I have to say, IT ANGERS me to hear that gay men get to have more freedom in what they wear BECAUSE THEY ARE GAY. That is BS!!!

I am so tired of hearing the term gays are more fashion conscious. There is a reason for that....they are allowed to be, it is expected of them. "normal" men don't pay attention to such things. But many actually would like to.

Gads the ignorance is just growing and growing. It is getting really sad.

[tooslowprius]

The second response is very close to what I was thinking.

As I have stated many times before I am tired of being called what I am not because I wear skirts.

I am also quite fed up with the term "oh that's different" when it comes to women wearing pants. IT IS NOT DIFFERENT.

But I digress.

I think it is highly unfair that people run the risk of losing their jobs or reputation based off the fact they wear skirts (if they are male). What is about the skirt wearing that is so wrong. Is it the possibility that the guy is gay? So in essense you fired the person because of their percieved sexual orientation. That is illegal as far as I can tell. Or how about firing them because they acted feminine. So you fired them because they are more like a woman than a man? Wouldn't that be GENDER discrimination?

I have to say, IT ANGERS me to hear that gay men get to have more freedom in what they wear BECAUSE THEY ARE GAY. That is BS!!!

I am so tired of hearing the term gays are more fashion conscious. There is a reason for that....they are allowed to be, it is expected of them. "normal" men don't pay attention to such things. But many actually would like to.

Gads the ignorance is just growing and growing. It is getting really sad.

I am with you on this. I can not count how many time's my wife (trying to piss me off) calls me gay when I wear a skirt. I just for the life of me can't understand it my self. What is it about a guy wearing a skirt that make's people think this way. I have met a few female's that think it's cool and it's about time real men try something diffrent. Most ,if they don't know you, don't say a word. Oh well i'll just keep on wearing my skirts and have to change peoples minds one person at a time i guess!

[crfriend]

I can not count how many time's my wife (trying to piss me off) calls me gay when I wear a skirt. I just for the life of me can't understand it my self.

Your wife is taking a cheap shot in order to get a rise out of you -- nothing more and nothing less. It's an easy shot, too, since many (if not most) guys tend to be relatively insecure in how they'll be viewed and shots like that are easy control mechanisms.

What is it about a guy wearing a skirt that make's people think this way.

It's just because the look is different from what the vast herd wears, and it makes one stick out; it's the mind's way of trying to classify something with which it has no experience nor have the energy to approach openly and with genuine curiosity.

Early adopters of pretty much anything also suffer from this effect.

Oh well i'll just keep on wearing my skirts and have to change peoples minds one person at a time i guess!

That's the spirit!

[sapphire]

Methinks Y'all worry too much.

Last weekend I had a feeling of pressure in the chest and got whisked off to UMASS Med in a shiny red ambulance. Despite several baby asprin and a under the tongue nitro spray my BP kept climbing. Car arrived in the ER wearing a skirt. Nobody noticed.

Finally after several nitro tabs, a nitro patch and a dose of morphine, the BP came down. They admitted me over night and ran a radioactive stress test. Carl showed up (skirted) to keep me company and we spent hours being mutually bored. We did get to see the life flight helicopter take off and return. Our neighbor, a nurse at the facility, dropped by to check up on me.

No one commented on Carl's attire or gave it a second look.

Well, that is until we were leaving the hospital. As Carl strode confidently across the lobby, ONE person, either an MD or an NP, looked at him. I smiled and waved, indicating that Carl and I were together.

ONE person! This is one busy facility: hospital, medical school, research facilities. UMASS Med Worcester is a ginormous place and only ONE person thought to look twice.

[Pythos]

Hey, tool. Sounds like it is time to tell your wife she's a lesbian (jokingly of course) because she wears pants, or drives a car, or get her for what ever else once mutually exclusively male thing she does without a thought.

She needs to stop doing the cheap shots, and you need to ask her to show a little respect and refrain from such crap.

[AMM]

I have to say, IT ANGERS me to hear that gay men get to have more freedom in what they wear BECAUSE THEY ARE GAY.

People don't get freedoms simply because it's right. Gays and lesbians have the freedoms they do because they, and their predecessors, suffered and, in many cases, died for it. Keep in mind the event that Gay Pride Day commemorates.

Actually, what they struggled, suffered, and died for was the right to simply live. The right to not be harrassed, forced out of their jobs and their communities, arrested, beaten, and killed simply because of who they are. The freedom to dress in ways that might be considered "gay" is something of a minor fringe benefit. And one which anyone can partake in, if they don't mind ignorant people assuming they're gay and treating them accordingly.

BTW, apropos of being called "gay" for wearing a skirt -- why not take it as a compliment? (Just the thing to confuse a homophobe: H: "You look like some kind of homo!" Me: "Why, thank you! I'm glad you like my sense of style!")

[Pythos]

Put simply AMM, I don't like being called what I am not.

That's it.

I don't like being called a woman, I don't like being called Mexican, I don't appreciate being called EMO (I'm goth, lol).

Now being told I have a unique style, then rock on. If told I have a Rocker's spirit...bring it on. Getting called a gearhead with an a atypical wardrobe, Me likey.

But being called Gay, when I am straight, if not Asexual, irritates me. Does a gay person like being called straight? When they feel no need to hide, then I would think the answer would be no.

I also understand that gay people have suffered and such. Does that mean we have to continue making other people suffer because of ignorance? I personally don't think so.

[Inertia]

Last weekend I had a feeling of pressure in the chest and got whisked off to UMASS Med in a shiny red ambulance. Despite several baby asprin and a under the tongue nitro spray my BP kept climbing. Car arrived in the ER wearing a skirt. Nobody noticed.

Finally after several nitro tabs, a nitro patch and a dose of morphine, the BP came down. They admitted me over night and ran a radioactive stress test. Carl showed up (skirted) to keep me company and we spent hours being mutually bored. We did get to see the life flight helicopter take off and return. Our neighbor, a nurse at the facility, dropped by to check up on me.
...

Hey, Sapphire -- you okay? Did they figure out why your BP went bonkers?

Cheers, and get well soon, if you haven't already done so,

Inertia

[sapphire]

Hi Inertia,
No they did not. I was discharged without a diagnosis.

Then, to add insult to injury, the MDs office wouldn't return the pharmacy's requests to refill my bp meds. It took a week, 3 faxes and multiple phone calls to get that refill.

Grrrr......

[Uncle Al]

That, my dear Sapphire, is a real pain in the chair

Uncle Al
Duncanville, TX