Greetings From Unexpected Places

I had left the pride festival on Saturday to go to dinner with several of my friends, when something rather unusual happened. It was obvious where we had been as several of us had the rainbow t-shirts on that stated that exactly, so it could hardly have been expected that any of us would be anything but gay. We were back in the real world of Kentucky, out of the fantasy land of total acceptance, and we got a stare or two from some of the patrons. As we were a rather large group, we had some downtime in the lobby until a table of the appropriate size was ready. It was just us and one older couple who were perusing the menu for their selections before being seated.

We were all talking, having a jovial conversation, hardly even noticing, when the older gentleman very cordially asked one of us if we had had an enjoyable time downtown and how everything went. I was taken aback! There was no pretense or assumption or anything derogatory whatsoever about the question or the interest he showed in our answer. He was simply genuinely interested and wanted to wish us well. Right here in front of us, an older couple, probably in their sixties, with a subtle message of acceptance, right in the middle of central Kentucky. My heart beamed for a moment, and we all thanked him sincerely back for his interest and for asking as his hand held buzzer went off to indicate that his table was ready. I couldn't help but smile. Now, if only everyone could be like that.

Win 'em over one person at a time. One American, one human, one individual person at a time.