Thursday, March 22, 2007

A coming out story....

"Ugly Betty" is one of the best shows on TV. Tonight it proved it. I laughed, I cried, I even did a happy dance.

Tonight, Mark, one of the minor characters had his mother visit town and he jumped through a LOT of hoops to try to convince this woman he was straight. He even pretended that Betty was his girlfriend so that he could make his mother happy.

But this being TV, lots of stuff came out, such as Ignacio being an illegal immigrant and Hilda being a single mom. The only person who WAS himself was little gay Justin who didn't give a damn about what this strange white lady thought of himself.

It was hysterical about how he went on and on about the "Dreamgirls" loss etc. Finally, Mark's mom went off about how tacky Betty's family was and how Justin disgusted her. Mark told her that she didn't have the right to talk about anyone especially Justin and then came out to her. She left and it broke Mark's heart but Betty being the saint she is reminded him that family really is the people you choose for yourself.

I cried, and cried because it reminded me of my coming out story. I remember blurting it out to one family member to hurt him, and then I told another one because at the time we were close. Finally, I told another and the another. Oddly enough, one of the ones I worried about the most has turned out to be the coolest ones about it. And those who I THOUGHT were going to be cool basically freaked out about it.

But I'm OK, because it's best to surround yourself with people who love and accept you NO MATTER WHAT.

I'm really glad that "Betty" has three gay characters on (Alexis the transexual, Mark and Justin) and that America has embraced this show.