Closed Minds. Closed Hearts.

Need to rant for just a second. Tonight we went and saw Spamalot at the Zigfield Theatre, a small community theatre just down the street. For those of you who don't know what Spamalot is about, let's just say it's not rated PG. There is swearing, sex, and other general bits of hilarious naughtiness. At one point in the second act the group in front of us stood up and walked out. Here is why I am mad.

It wasn't:

The Lady of the Lake's boobs spilling out of her dress,

The guy in his underwear with a D over his penis,

The naughty word spelled out with the shields,

The graphic descriptions from the French taunters,

The cursing,

The sexual innuendos,

The jab at the Jews,

or anything else that made them get up and leave.

You know what it was? You guessed it.

The gay one.

The song where Lancelot figures out that he is gay makes the woman in front of me stand up and usher her four kids out of the show. These "kids" are high school age or older. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD!? I mean seriously!? I don't understand how these people's minds work. These are the type of people that - whether they mean to or not - encourage bullying, encourage judgement, and encourage hate. The LGBT community and their supporters (me included) often blame closed-mindedness for their behavior. But I think it goes deeper than that. Is it their minds that are closed or is it their hearts?

How can anyone see a human being and think that because they are different from you that makes them less of a person. That makes it okay to taunt, torment, and torture them often leading to suicide? How can anyone look at my friend Payden and see anything but a beautiful and talented performer with a huge heart? How can anyone look at my friend Bryan and see anything but a hardworking individual with the biggest smile and the best hugs? How can anyone look at my friend Ryan and see anything other than an ambitious man who never gives up on his dreams and conquers everything he sets his mind to? How can anyone look at one of the most famous LGBT of all time - Ellen Degeneres - and see anything other than the most giving, big-hearted, beautiful, inspirational, and truly kind person in the whole world? Most importantly, how can anyone look at these individuals as anything other than a human being who deserves respect?

I can't and I won't.

Rant over...

at least for now.

We still have 35 states to go, after all.