Homophobia again

[pegkerr]

It crops up in the strangest ways.

The area around my workplace is rather sparse and barren now, but new businesses are opening up all the time. A new restaurant opened our building, and they offered free meals to people in our workplace to give us an opportunity to check it out. So I found myself yesterday afternoon eating a rather nice lunch (although slow to arrive from the kitchen) and making strained conversation with some people in the office with whom I have nothing in common. We were talking about the work neighborhood, and it became clear quickly that I was the only one who had done any legwork to explore the area. One had gotten scared by a scruffy transient in the bus terminal across the street our first week here, and she seems to have entirely written off the entire neighborhood as a result. From the remarks of the other women at the table, it became clear that hers was the majority opinion. The world, to them, seemed a hazardous place, and it was just safer to just stay inside. Never mind the shops and the museums and the restaurants. Better safe than sorry. Well, I felt sorry for them.

Someone mentioned a second new restaurant, the Rainbow Rooster, also opening up in the area. The sample menu had been circulated around the office, and it seems like a straightforward American food joint. The woman scared-by-a-transient said, "Well, I think the restaurant's name is--" her lips pursed in distaste "--unfortunate."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I imagine it's because it's owned by the owners of that gay bar on the same block."

"Exactly," she nodded. "Of course, I don't think I'll ever be eating there."

Of course. Well, phooey to you. It's Pride Week. I'll be eating at the Rainbow Rooster today. I hope their food is good, and that they get scads of customers and that they're a raging success, and that more tolerant people discover them. People who are courageous enough not to be scared off by that dangerous word "Rainbow" in the title.

Edited to add: I had the 1/4 lb hamburger, and the food hit the spot. The wait staff was very friendly, and the space, as drewan said, is large, bigger than I expected. primroseburrows found their website, too (very rudimentary at the moment, but hopefully they'll have their complete menu up soon. Thanks, primroseburrows!

I also stopped by the desk of she-who-shall-not-be named. "Hey, I stopped by the Rainbow Rooster today."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the food was pretty good. Friendly staff people. You should check it out."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Was it purple?" She laughed.

I smiled sweetly. "It was pretty harmless looking."

Sometimes all you can do is plant some seeds and hope that gradually, the ground will become fertile enough for them to sprout, someday.

Comments

[rachet.livejournal.com]

I hope you have an incredible meal there today!

And have a dessert for me! :-)

[misia.livejournal.com]

You're SO much nicer than I am, Peg. I would've played innocent and drawn that woman out, at length, into a very lengthy and detailed self-defense of her own prejudice, and then very sweetly said "Wow, Marsha, you sure do invest a lot of energy in being prejudiced, don't you?"

It's the old "Hey, Jim, have you stopped beating your wife yet?" tactic, I know, but hey, it serves a purpose.

Enjoy your lunch, and I too hope that the Rainbow Rooster proves a hit.

[lcohen]

i hope their food rocks as much as you do!

[snippy]

Gosh, she *really* doesn't know you! And **applause** for both your own attitude and your diplomacy in not causing a scene--which is only sometimes appropriate.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

They have a website!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll add it to my original post.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Yay! *g*

[sheryll.livejournal.com]

If I lived in your neck of the woods, I'd join you for lunch. I hope the place is raging success, as well. I was going to say that I'd go out on Pride Week here and support our local gay/lesbian businesses, then realised I do that all year. :)

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

If it weren't for the harm they do to others, directly or indirectly, I'd simply feel sorry for such people. Those who are frightened by anything different from themselves, or from what they know, miss out on so much of the richness of life.

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

My sister is going to the TC this weekend to participate in the Pride week events-- I'll let her know about the diner!

[drewan.livejournal.com]

The Rainbow Rooster just opened last Friday for the first time. I stopped in with several friends after the Eagle's Sunday beer bust. It is much larger than I expected, and the menu looked pretty good. Sadly I didn't have time to eat there, maybe this weekend.

And the name is a little unfortunate. We've been calling it the Colorful Cock all weekend.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

You don't suppose...that might not be *completely* accidental, maybe?

[aome.livejournal.com]

Heaven forbid someone eat there. They might be a) hit on or b) turned gay by the food. *rolls eyes* Good for you for quietly making your point.

[kokopoko.livejournal.com]

Your lunch partners sounds exactly word for word like the people around here that grew up in small town South Dakota and have NEVER LEFT. I am not kidding you, quite a lot have never travelled outside SD. Plus they refuse to go to Florida and say it should be it's own country with so many hispanics. The person stating this was not native american so her ancestors came from somewhere. I am person non grata for pointing this out. I am also the black sheep for pointing out we're suppossed to love our neighbor when the bible thumpers went on a gays-are-going-to-hell rant.

[corinnethewise.livejournal.com]

You're much nicer than I would have been. Snaps to you.

[sylvertongue.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. I wish you many great meals at The Rainbow Rooster.

This is the best form of social activism. After all, the homophobes are only ignorant and frightened. The only way to cure either is familiarity and education, and those of us that register as non-threatening on the homophobe's radar have a great opportunity to do just that.

Educate. Sneakily.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The question "Was it purple?" is the kind of thing that upsets me most -- being willing to bull right on ahead in the face of someone who clearly doesn't find one's prejudices particularly cute or funny. I'd like to be surprised that you deal with this in Mpls, but I ran into enough San Franciscans who were convinced that it didn't happen there and were wrong that I'm mostly over that. Sort of. (There's still a part of me that says, "Oh dear, not in my city! How disappointing!")

I have a friend from years back who refers sneeringly to her bisexual sister's "lifestyle." Once I said, "Now, come on, people who live in Edina are just as nice as anyone else, no matter what bigoted things you hear about them." She was baffled.

Ho-ho-homophobia...

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Turns out I know one of the owners of the Saloon, and somehow I thought they were the ones that we running the RR (although I understand they've installed this shower set up for ...uh... public showering... (Sometimes I don't understand my own community, but then I'm an old queer & tired.

Oh, please correct your workmate. It's not purple, it's laaaahvender, dahling.

David Cummer
huladavid@aol.com

Re: Ho-ho-homophobia...

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

The ownership was a pure guess on my part; you may very well be right.

Re: Ho-ho-homophobia...

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Heck, I was guessin' just as much as you were.

By-the-by, there's a review of RR in the latest Lavender.