Sorry to get political, but...

Lindsay Live | Nov 05, 2009 | 0

Lindsay as Sugar Plum Fairy, sharing an emotional moment on stage with her Cavalier.

I have to say I'm extremely disappointed with the election results in Maine last Tuesday regarding same-sex marriage. This was the first time that the American populate repealed actual legislation regarding same-sex marriage; last year's measure in California was in response to a court ruling, not law. The legislation that would have granted gays the right to wed was defeated with a vote of 53%-47%.

Now, why am I posting this on a dance blog? Good question. Yes, I want to vent and luckily I have a forum to do so, but it's more than that...

During my research today, I came across an article about an aspiring male ballet dancer who is raised by two dads. As both a dancer and a journalist, I find this story extremely problematic. Aside from the irony (if you can call it irony), is this even newsworthy? Having been around dancers my entire life since the age of 7, I know firsthand that the sexual orientation of one's parents has absolutely nothing to do with one's desire to dance ballet. Most male ballet dancers I know, both straight and gay, were raised by a mother and a father, both of whom were extremely supportive.

The writer may have had good intentions, but he showed a profound lack of judgment in publishing the piece. The article served only to perpetuate stereotypes about ballet and homosexuality while angering the uneducated, ignorant masses. This article takes backward steps in getting others to accept gay marriage and adoption. And it also does a disservice to the art of dance.

The majority of the reader comments are simply deplorable, painting ballet as nothing more than a 'pansy' activity. I won't go into detail about all the straight men I met in my ballet career, or the athleticism and dedication required for ballet because it's obvious these people don't respond well to rational arguments. But what's funny is that I can think of FAR worse things for our society than young boys aspiring to be ballet dancers. It's truly laughable how out of whack the logic is.

Living in NYC has really left me blind to how much prejudice and ignorance there is out there. At the same time, though, I feel lucky. Not only am I lucky to live in a place where you can be yourself openly and freely, but I'm also so fortunate to have grown up immersed in the performing arts. There's a reason I wake up every day and dedicate myself to this field, and one of the reasons is to educate and combat these terrible stereotypes. Hopefully one day the arts will be respected as they once were years ago... maybe that'll be the same day we're all finally treated equally.

Print Email Link

• Share
  • add to facebook
  • add to del.icio.us
  • add to digg
  • add to yahoo
  • related at technorati

Ballet, Enthusiast, Gay Rights, Maine, Politics (all tags)