When Are You "Too Gay" For Anything?

One would think in 2010, that being "too gay" would not be an issue. But apparently it still is.

CNN is reporting that America's only national tour of ice skating stars has decided to leave 3 time national champion, and 6th place finisher in the 2010 Winter Olympics, Johnny Weir off of its tour, deeming him "not family friendly". I fail to see what isn't family friendly about Johnny, other than the fact he is an outspoken guy and very much obviously gay. But Weir has never once stated he is gay and when asked he was quoted once as saying it wasn't "part of his sport and it's private". He is even a Roman Catholic. That is about as family friendly as you can get (no pun intended, kids). He had recently drawn the ire of PETA for wearing fur, but he doesn't exactly go out of his way to cause controversy. The tour claims they just didn't have room for Weir, but I think the Smucker's sponsored event is putting itself into a jam (pun intended, kids).

So are certain people too gay for certain jobs or roles? Can one be too gay for figure skating? Maybe they can even be too gay for politics? Actually, probably not.

Let's use some recent political examples. I for one was a nominee for the TX state house, and am quite clearly openly gay. Maybe I wasn't too gay for some, but when you have a boyfriend and found a Stonewall Democrats chapter, that is pretty gay. Even then, I earned 39% of the vote in a primarily conservative district. Moving on to the even gayer realm, would be someone such as Rep. Barney Frank. The man has been gay since the 80s, has a lisp, and is from Massachusetts. But he is one the highest ranking Democrats in Congress. On the flip side, you have people such as former Rep. Eric Massa, who is a married man, but quite clearly has some gay issues and likes the boys in the Congressional offices. Ditto for former Rep. Mark Foley, who was a self hating homosexual who blamed it on alcoholism. So when exactly do you get  too gay to hold public office? Apparently, you don't unless you clearly go out of your way to act in a rude manner, such as Massa or Foley.

Someone like Johnny Weir has not acted rudely. He is one of our best athletes in the country, if not on the planet as shown by last month's Olympics. Barney Frank is one of our best politicians. But neither one is too gay for what they do in life. And nobody at any job or sport is too gay. Gay people are human beings, and may make mistakes from time to time like anyone else. We are part of everyone's family, and quite friendly. So Smuckers, the ice tour, or anyone else who thinks a gay man shouldn't be part of their event because of who they are needs to reevaluate their own lives and see what it is exactly that is making them such hateful bigots.