CON GAMES 24/7: Gay Ski Week Redux

May 27th, 2008 at 06:05pm Michael Conniff 2

The Con Man takes issue with a reader who believes his piece on Aspen Gay Ski Week--"Why Gay Ski Week Creeps Me Out--And That's A Good Thing"--a piece that decried his own prejudice as a way of getting past it.

Click here for the complete "Con Games with Michael Conniff" for Tuesday May 27, 2008.

Entry Filed under: Aspen, Colorado, Con Games, Homosexuality, The West, United Post

2 Comments Add your own

1. reckless G | May 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Michael,

Good show today and I commend your ability to handle the calls from the Bible bunch. Your questions to them were thoughtful and relevant.

I don't understand the conflict your gay friend has with the blog you wrote on gay ski week. I think your point was perfectly made that the very fact that there is an occasion such as gay ski week to creep you out IS a good thing. Your point was that not very long ago, homosexuality was kept in the closet so that no one would get creeped out. Now it's out in the open, and the ability to get creeped out is also the ability to talk and to learn and eventually to not get creeped out any more because homosexuality is a part of our everyday normal experience.

I get it.
2. Hugh520 | May 29th, 2008 at 11:53 am

Micheal, I heard you say the word "Stung" enough times on the show that it's easy to see the loss of this friend is troubling to you.

As you may remember, I chimed in on the discussion back in January, and my point of view was that the aggregation of so many gays in and of itself is possibly where your discomfort may lay.

En masse, at least for a week, the event, which at times must seem a bit like a bacchanal, is literally not meant for you. There's an in group and an out group. That alone, must feel weird.

But here's my new thought and I'll posit it's part of the reason your friend is so upset.

I take it he lives in or near Aspen 365 days of the year, ipso facto, no matter how fair minded and open your comment was -- and believe me it was, being a local he probably experiences the comment quite differently. It's more personal, because he's your neighbor and friend.

For one week out of the year, he's surrounded by his brothers in arms as it were, which is the only week out of the year I'll posit that anything gay "creeps" you out. This is a distinction worthy of note.

Let's invert: 95% of the population is gay, and once a year heterosexuals gather en masse for Straight Ski Week. He's not invited, and I'll wager he'd feel the same strangeness you do. I'm not making him "wrong" for the way he feels. I'm just trying to help two obvious friends get together again.