Esprix, hopefully you won’t be mad at me for stealing your idea here. I don’t even know if people will find this at all interesting, but I thought I’d make myself available to talk about my experience getting through high school and living in The South (Texas).
Any questions? Ask away!
LC
I don’t think I would consider you a kid after you got out of high school. What are you doing now? When did you come out. Where in Texas are you? If you aren’t/weren’t in Austin in High School, how did the sea of rednecks treat you. We all know Austin, like Atlanta, is an oasis of culture in a sea of rednecks.
Yeah boy, yee-haw! There’s nothing more that those folks in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston look forward to then rounding up a posse and mistreating them pretty boys. Yippie ki yay, hombre! <insert sounds of pistols being shot into the air and copious amounts of boot scooting>
I really find it unfair when we paint an entire group of people with very broad brushes. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Austin and it is indeed a lovely city. However everything outside of the capitol isn’t awashed in a sea of rednecks.
Marc
Good point Marc.
In particular, Dallas is known to have a large gay population. Or maybe that’s just the perception of my fabulous gay friend Dave? (who lives in Dallas) 
I have a couple questions for you Lucki -
What kind of family did you grow up in? Are they aware of your sexual orientation? If so, to what extent are they comfortable with it?
Yes it does. I think Little Rock, AR must have a sizable gay population. Unless those little rainbow stickers/license plates mean something else.
Marc
Rock your little self on, Lucki!
Esprix
Well, Lucky Chaarms, since you have now started up an “ask the…” thread, I can’t resist asking this question any more:
Are you, in fact, magically delicious?
I can’t wait to see what answer Lucki comes up with for tracer, particularly in view of the thread topic!
Lucki, a quite serious question: from your perspective, does the greater openness and acceptance of gay people generally seem to have changed attitudes you’ve had to deal with in growing up gay, as opposed the tales of rejection and failure to understand that seem to be the common theme of older gay people? Or is it more of the same, for the most part?
Lucki, how do you and others of your generation relate to some of the watersheds in gay history? Or do you?
More specifically, does Stonewall mean anything to anyone anymore? Oscar Wilde? The Castro?
dorkusmalorkusmafia - I did, in fact, go to HS in Austin, so while there were plenty of people whose attitudes quite sucked in relation to people who were different in any way, especially regarding sexuality, it wasn’t as though I was having to fear for my safety, which I really believe could have been an issue, say in Dallas or Houston.
Mars - I grew up largely with a single mom moving all over the place. In recent years, my mom has discovered fundamentalist Christianity (yay! :rolleyes: ), but due mainly to the fact that she has a brother whom she admires greatly who is gay, she doesn’t really have a problem with it. More like she wouldn’t have wished it for her son because she knows that it’s not the easiest road to walk, but she… honestly tries. My dad doesn’t know, and I don’t really feel up to telling him. Not because he’d freak out or anything, I just don’t even think it would be worth it. We know each other, but we keep it at a pretty darn superficial level.
tracer - That’s debatable. But I am tragically malicious, violently auspicious, slightly superstitious, mildly capricious, undeniably pernicious, and right now, overly repititious. (bows)
Poly - I think that probably there are more people who are cool with it now than there would have been 30 years ago, and certainly more than there would have been 50 years ago. It just depends who you hang out with. Theater geeks, artists, etc. are always going to be a group that is going to be accepting. So far the male athlete types and the female “popular groups” haven’t come around very far, but that doesn’t worry me too much.
andros - Can’t speak for everyone, but for me, I’d say yeah. Stonewall is where the whole gay pride riot (f***ing BAND NAME right there…) started oh so many years ago. Oscar Wilde, the original oh-so-ironic and untouchably iconic homosexual dandy. I’ll pay my respects, but in general I can’t stand the ironic types. Sincerity! The biiiig exception goes out to the glam rockers. They get to be oversized and insincere and it’s sexy. The Castro doesn’t mean anything to me. Sorry.
LC
I suddenly feel very, very old…
creaks away
Esprix
I’m a gay kid too, so I’ll answer…
None of those things mean much of anything to me, and I suspect that 90% of gay teenagers wouldn’t know anything about Stonewall, have never read Wilde, and only know about the Castro if they’ve actually been there.
They’re just all about Kylie now. sigh
Kylie?
Gads, I AM old.
Esprix
Nah, add me to the list of people who are not all about Kylie. For gay icons I’m more about Ian McKellen, David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Strokes (so sue me…), Indigo Girls, Marilyn Manson, Margart Cho, etc.
So not Judy Garland, and not Kylie, somewhere in between. Oscar Wilde comes in through the glam types.
LC
Although the Army might not want you, you seem like the very model of a modern Major General. 
So what’s the deal with gay’s and Kylie? How did she become this big gay idol, and why? Is there any reason for this, or is it just one of those things?
It began way back in 1993, when Kylie was repackaged as a dance music diva. Moving beyond her mostly teenage audience, her new image was seductively camp, but self-aware. The appeal to women and gay men was enormous. Kylie made an appearance at the 1994 Sydney Mardi Gras to cement her new status.
How exactly was ‘her new image… seductively camp’. This is what I don’t get.
Blake, I don’t intend to hijack Lucki Chaarms’s excellent thread. Perhaps you could start another one, if you want more opinions on Kylie’s mysterious appeal.
You and me both, Esprix.
Hi Lucki,
I was just curious if your school had a GLBT club and if you were involved in it? If so, was it something that was for the most part accepted in the school you attended?
Personally, I think these clubs are a wonderful idea and I so wish something like that had been available to me in my high school years.