Homophobia and Irony

Hompobe is one of those words that’s gets tossed around a lot but is rarely used correctly. Homophobia literally means someone who is afraid of homosexuals, but the common usage is as a slur for anyone who disagrees with any part of the gay agenda. Using the word in that context causes it loses some of its meaning, until you actually come across it.

One of our servers “Dale” is one of our best. I’ve never seen him stress, he doesn’t get caught up in drama and he takes great care of his tables. Yes, he’s a better server than me, and like me we’re both gay, the difference is I can pass, he can’t.

Even people with no experience around gay men tag him, correctly, as gay. Most of the time it doesn’t cause trouble, but every so often it happens. Earlier this year one of his tables asked for a new server.

A white family with thick southern accents told the manager that he was rude and inattentive, two things we all know he’s not, but whatever, a table says they want a new server we get them a new server. The server they got was “Cindy” who related to me that they said, “We just felt more comfortable with you handling our food.”

Yeah, it’s pretty clear exactly what happened and why they wanted a server; legitimate homophobia. They were scared that Dale would do something to their food, or that he had HIV or AIDS, maybe they just didn’t want to tip a gay guy. I don’t know their exact motivation but the reality of the situation is pretty clear.

The irony of the situation is that Cindy is an actual former crack whore. She’s gone down on more men than all of the gay men who work at my location combined, and there’s about ten of us at this point. If you were at all concerned about someone’s past, she’s the one you should be concerned about.

Had I been forced to take the table I would have rolled up my sleeves to reveal the then still red, and massively noticeable, psoriasis plaque on my left forearm and just not said anything about it.

Cindy spent much of the night running after Dale trying to give him the $7 they left as a tip. After like her tenth effort I took at and donated the money to Mwangaza Children’s Foundation. We've had a couple of tables like that where you're just such an an toxic ass we don't want your money, and at least this way it's doing some good.