La Cage Aux Folles

I should have known I was gay when I cried tears of happiness while watching the musical "Annie" with my family at the Curran Theatre when I was 15.  ("It's a Hard Knock Life" etc.)  I tried to shield this with the upward head tilt. (Earlier on I remember asking my mom while watching television why Miss America was crying.  I mean, she just won, she should be happy! My mom explained to me that sometimes people cry when they are happy. I did not know that.  - of course the fact that an 8 year old boy is asking his mom about a wailing Miss America is another clue.)

Tonight I saw Jerry Herman's "La Cage Aux Folles" on Broadway.  I am now at that age when I get to say that I saw the original on Broadway.   (Another chapter in my book that also covers receding hairlines and doctors younger than you entitled "It Just Happens.")

It was a largely gay (and certainly gay-friendly) audience and as sappy and crowd-pleasing as Jerry Herman can be, I found it really moving and empowering. Yes, empowering!  Am I so in need of affirmation?  I am so starved for acceptance? In New York?!!!  Ha!

I really don't know anymore.  I just think there are so many messages out there that "I" am disordered, no good, a pervert, the "real" cause of scandal in the Catholic Church, and an issue bigger than invading Iraq according to the Republicans at the time,  that to see a love story that is about ME and find it so honest and okay, I found really, really touching.