Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I know things are rough, but we all have something to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving is at my house this year. My folks and their dog are coming up from Tennessee. My two sisters live close by. I even managed to convince my mother-in-law to join us (I adore my mother-in-law, so no snarky comments out there about in-laws. Anyone who could make my life miserable and chooses not to gets some gratitude from me. Besides, she did a great job with my DH.).

It’s supposed to be warm, so I suppose if we really run out of room we could break out the lawn chairs and sit outside and watch the dogs frolic. Molly is a hundred pound golden retriever with an attitude problem. Mom and Dad got her just after I started seeing my DH. My dog Trent is a fifteen pound miniature schnauzer who’s the little brother Molly never wanted. For the most part they tolerate each other and sometimes even play. Still, there are times I swear Molly has this expression that says, “What’s with the circus freak? All this running and jumping around? WTH?”

On to current events. Apparently I missed the whole Rosie O’Donnell/Kelly Ripa/Clay Aiken thing. Sometimes I really hate the media. Talk about mountains out of mole hills. Now we have three people all running around doing damage control. Well, except for Rosie. She’s just Rosie. Always will be. I love her, but sometimes I want to tell her to chill out a minute. Breathe. Ohm.

For those of you who don’t know, Clay was on Regis and Kelly. At one point of the show, Clay reached over and put his hand over Kelly’s mouth. Kelly made a face and the media was all over it. Now Rosie jumps in, and tells everyone on The View that she saw it as a homophobic reaction.

Geez, Louise, people.

First, admit it. We’ve all wanted to make Kelly shut up at one point or another. However, thinking it and doing it are two completely different things. I mean, think about it. Some guy you’ve never worked with before, reaches over and puts his hand over your mouth. As Kelly later said, it’s cold and flu season. She has kids. These are legit concerns. Personally I saw it as an invasion of personal space, but hey, that’s my thing. For Bob’s sake, if I don’t know you, don’t touch me, let alone put your hand over my face. I saw an interview with people on the streets about this (hello? Isn’t there a war going on somewhere?) and the girl said, granted she didn’t want to comment on Clay’s personal hygiene but there are times when guys have been know on certain occasions to – shall we say – not wash their hands after certain activities. Trust me, I’ve gone ballistic at my DH over this very issue. And get your head out of the gutter over there.

Now Rosie jumps in. Ok. First and foremost, everyone is entitled to their opinion. We all see the world a little differently due to our personal life experiences. I guarantee that Rosie has experienced some idiot treating her like she has leprosy simply because she publicly declared her sexual orientation. She is entitled to her reaction. When people who are non-white have faced racism, you have to expect they are looking for it, are sensitive it and will be defensive about it. However, to publicly accuse someone of being homophobic, especially in the manner she did, seems pretty irresponsible to me. Maybe if she worded it differently, like, “hey, those sensitive to gay issues saw it this way, so be careful.” Rosie being Rosie, I really doubt that would happen, but I like to hope people can rise above knee-jerk reactions.

Now Kelly is upset and called in and they spent Bob only knows how long “discussing” it on The View and pretty much made everyone feel uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Clay, who seems like a half-way decent guy when all this broke, has been labeled as a gay who doesn’t wash his hands. Gee, that seems fair. The guy has made no public statement about his orientation. It really doesn’t matter a whole lot to me personally, but I bet it does to him. If he’s straight, how does it make him feel to have to defend his orientation over and over again? I’ve know a lot of guys that for whatever reason had people wonder if they were gay or not and if they are straight, it’s pretty tough too. If he is gay, well geez, he’s been outted without his consent. If someone hasn’t outted themselves they usually have concerns about how their family and friends will handle the news. And the whole cold/flu/has-he-washed-his-hands thing, good grief. Anybody would be embarrassed about that.

If it was me, I don’t know what I’d be mortified about first. That I made someone I just met uncomfortable? That the person made a face after I’d touched them? That I’m being looked at as disease-carrying vermin? That someone I don’t even know is discussing my sexual orientation?

So thanks Media Gods for making an already awkward situation much, much worse.

I think I’ll watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special as an antidote.