I watched it with my dad, who (and I'm simply being honest in describing him, not hateful) is in his 80s, senile, "conservative," Protestant, and Republican. He's also ignorant and fairly bigoted when it comes to LGBTI issues; he was raised in a different era, and to him, the entire umbrella of LGBTQIA can be summed up with the word "queers." He does not understand, and does not wish to learn (as he has made quite clear on a number of matters) the truth that reality is bigger than his narrow perspective (I've tried, repeatedly, but even when some of it seemed to have gotten through, he later said things that suggested that nothing I said got through, or that he has completely forgotten the entire discussion, but as I said, he's senile, and men seem to have challenges with the act of listening to speech from a woman -- which latter may be partially due to the way men's brains process women's voices). Fortunately for everyone, his bigotry toward the LGBTQIA community is entirely passive.
When we recently watched an episode of Modern Family which featured the Gay male couple (who are regulars on the show) and a Lesbian couple (who, I believe, were guest stars, although they may become recurring characters, due to the dynamic between them and the Gay male couple), I was annoyed to hear him ask me why I wanted to watch a show with "a buncha queers," even though he's aware that I'm Bisexual (and we've watched the show several times before without him ever saying a word, possibly because he didn't realize the two men are Gay; in this episode, however, the words "Gay" and "Lesbian" were used explicitly). In private, he regularly refers to people as "queer" with evident disdain in his voice. He seldom, however, says anything about me being Bisexual (I believe he is in denial about this facet, and several other facets, of my life, but also, it's not like I make a big deal about my being Bisexual around him).
During the Kinky Boots segment of the parade, however, he said not one word, but watched it silently, apparently entertained by the performance. I did not make any issue out of it, and the performance passed without comment. In fact, he still hasn't said anything about that, even now when it happened about three hours in the past, and I doubt he will say anything about it. The only thing he ever did say about any of the broadcast was "This ain't the parade!" because the parade proper had not yet made it to the area in front of Macy's, and I had to remind him that this is how it's done every year.
On the other hand, I've seen quite a few obnoxious comments on the internet since the performance, with derogatory terms like "trannies," and people complaining that it was not "Family Friendly" or that it was not appropriate for a Rated G broadcast. There have also been some complaints about having to explain things to children, while some explicitly said that they did not appreciate any lectures on diversity from the parade. A sample of such comments can be found in the following links:
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: Drag queens in kinky boots
UGH!!!! -- Macy's Day Parade Promotes Gay Musical "Kinky Boots"
Just what Thanksgiving needed: Drag queens in Kinky Boots [photos]
Fortunately, there have been more positive comments as well, such as this:
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: Kinky Boots
You can listen to the original Broadway cast recording of the song performed here:
The whole thing seems quite acceptable for a G Rating. "Family Friendly" does not actually mean "Let's pretend everyone is a white, cisgendered, heterosexual, fundamentalist Christian who supports the tyranny of capitalism (even if they themselves get the shaft right along with those who prefer a saner economy) and hide from anyone who isn't." A lot of people seem to think it does, though, and more's the pity.
Here is a portion of the lyrics to the piece from the performance (the same one in the video above). This is hardly something to get your panties into a bunch over, unless you like promoting ignorance, fear, and hatred.
Alright, now, we've all heard of the 12 step program, have we not?
Yes, but what you can do in 12, I want you to know that we all can do in 6 now, and it goes like this:
One: Pursue the truth
Two: Learn something new
Three: Accept yourself and you'll accept others too!
Four: Let love shine
Five: Let pride be your guide
Six: Change the world when you change your mind!
Just be who you wanna be.
Never let them tell you who you oughta be.
Just be. With dignity.
Celebrate yourself triumphantly.
You'll see.
It's beautiful.
You'll see
It's beautiful.
Just be.
It's beautiful.
Just be.
Read more:
Original Broadway Cast Recording - Raise You Up / Just Be Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Update:
A video of the actual performance from the parade has now been put up on YouTube. I hesitate to link to it, for two reasons: (i) the person who uploaded it made unfavorable comments (which did not reflect much awareness of diversity, since he or she confused transsexuals with drag queens), and (ii) it may not be left up, if a copyright or trade mark complaint is made. The comments section is includes not only homophobic and transphobic remarks (some of which really ought to be removed by YouTube (but apparently there's little chance of that!), but also antisemitism! However, one comment really stands out, to such an extent that I believe I should reproduce it here, and I suppose that I should give the link to the source because of that. Therefore, here's the link. And here's the comment:
I'd have to say that Joe's comment really puts all of the hysteria in perspective.
Here's a video of the same, uploaded by someone who didn't make hateful and ignorant comments when posting it.
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