because the night

image credit: declan mccullagh

when i was 16 i ran away from home. well, i didn't really run, but i did. if that makes any sense. i mean, i didn't run although i would have if it was necessary. i couldn't remain living at home sanely. and where i went proved to be no saner, but i was really too proud to say i wasn't smart enough to handle things on my own. and i got myself into some situations that were less than attractive. well, 16 yr old skinny twink who didn't have all his wits about him yet. and certainly wasn't wise to the ways of the world.

there was a drag queen i met who was from chicago and was 2 years older than i. he went by the name danee. and he really took me under his wing after a couple of chance meetings. he was much smarter than i was. and he could hold his liquor a lot better than i could. he lived with a couple of gay guys who actually were a couple - of sorts. they were both doormen at upscale chicago residence highrises. danee amused them and didn't pay rent. they were all heavy partiers and probably alcoholics as i look back.

but at that time, i needed their protection and i needed a place to stay. i didn't care if it was sane or not. i didn't really understand sane anyway.

i'm not sure if i have a point. i was thinking about danee today. she was puerto rican and she used to do a pr accent that had me rolling on the floor. i still mimic her as part of my schtick and i still have people rolling of the floor,too. it's english, but it's english that is almost a different language. it's beautiful and fun and experimental and it opens your mind. it is refreshing to hear my language spoken so differently. same words and not at all and both of those at the same time. anyway, i loved danee like a brother (or sister). and i have a soft spot in my heart for drag queens to this day. in many ways i find them much more brave than most gay men. they say "yes" to pleasure in ways gay men are not able. they kicked ass at stonewall. they broke windows and broke rules. they took beatings and came back for more. they paved the way to freedom for the rest of the sissies. they suffer endless ridicule and endure separatism. and yet they put on a happy face consistently and entertain the troops. and most times they understand secret sadness more deeply and more sensitively than the rest of the glbtq community.

have you hugged a drag queen lately? you might wanna think about it, cuz they could be savin' somebody else's teenage runaway ass this very minute.

my stats shot through the roof this last couple of weeks because i used a photo from google images called "american gay army" for a post back in june, which is being googled like crazy. so i'm getting hundreds of hits per day just because of this photo. and all of it is direct to one of my very favorite posts from a visit to chicago to hear susan kingston speak on her opinion of the current meth situation. a running blog friend read it recently and reminded me why i had felt good about it in the first place- thank you steve -btw