 I must admit that as a gay man I have had it pretty easy. I
don’t fit any of the limp-wristed, lisping, tight-jeans-wearing,
pigeon-toed stereotypes.
I like footy, utes, body hair, the suburbs and Alpha
magazine.
But I have to say that I hate the term straight-acting. It
really gets to me. You see it online all the time. There are many terms for it,
but it all seems to reek of labelling to me. Peruse the profiles of any gay
pick-up website and it will come up again and again.
And being in Tasmania where Boony is God and footy is the
state religion (don’t get me started on why the AFL doesn’t want to base a team
here!) means that when a more obvious
gay man walks down the street, there is bound to be a tidal-wave of unkempt
eyebrows being raised.
 New Norfolk (pictured, above) really is Tasmania personified. It’s a beautiful
little Derwent Valley town just out of Hobart with a strip of shops,
non-gentrified cafes and a town hall. I love it there. But I would never expect
to see a Chris Crocker (left) look-a-like looking like he’s just walked off the set of
his Leave Britney Alone YouTube
masterpiece (see below).
Yet there he was in all his glory, resplendent in tight
jeans and cut-off sleeves showing off his skinny arms. He was beautiful. But so
very out of place. And that’s what I loved about him. Here is a guy who is
nothing like me getting stared at viciously by Nanna’s walking out of the IGA
and sawmill workers picking up their pies from the bakery for lunch.
It’s so very easy for me to walk down any street in country
Australia and not look out of place. I look like I belong there. I fit in. I
talk like them. I walk like them. I dress like them.
If you want to know who my heroes are, they are people like
New Norfolk’s own little Chris Crocker. God Bless him. He knows he is out of
place. He knows he is a target, yet he bats his eyelids, dusts off his
slim-fits and shimmies down Blair Street like he owns the place.
When I walked by him I couldn’t help but look him in the
eye, smile a big bogan grin and say, “You Go, Girl!”.
He smiled back, flashing his perfect teeth and, going red in
the face, said, “Thank you! Have a nice day!”
And because of people like him all over Tasmania, I had a
great day.
VIDEO: The September 2007 YouTube post that made Chris Crocker a celebritney
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