Reasons Why The Idiom, "Friends of Dorothy" Needs To Be Retired...

[CruiseMsclFurryDad]

On 8/27/2021 at 10:17 AM, DenGNNJ said:

Okay so let me start out this post by saying, "I'm bored".  Seriously... I work from home, it's been a slow week, and I'm sick of watching television.  It's 90+ degrees out, super humid, and we don't own a pool.  The beach is miserable in this weather, and I'm so prone to sweating that a single hot pepper is all it takes to put me into state of prolonged hyperhidrosis.  Trust me, if I had @#$% to do around the house, or something else planned, you wouldn't be reading this.

 

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the title, I'm not a fan of the FOD idiom and I think it should be changed to "LGBTQ+ and Friends" .  Here's the reasons:

 

1. It was kind of a good idea, but executed poorly.  Back in the day we were all worried about getting gay bashed, disowned, or fired from our jobs.  Out of necessity we created little code words, hung colored handkerchiefs out of our back pockets, and wore a single earring in our right ears (when straight guys were wearing them in their left), all so that we could identify members of our own community without having to ask and hopefully not get the @#$% kicked out of us.  FOD is an example of this but let's be real... a secret handshake isn't much of a secret if everyone knows how to do it.  Straight folks don't need the code breaking skills of Alan Turing to figure this one out - all one needs to do is ask guest services, "Who's Dorothy, and why she does get to have a party with all her friends in the 'so-and-so' lounge and I don't?"
    
2. It's based on a stereotype.  Dorothy = Wizard of Oz = Judy Garland, and ALL gay men worship Judy Garland.  This is completely and utterly untrue!  Look, get it right:  All gay men love musical theater & films and a only sub-set of us, albeit a large sub-set worship Judy Garland.  I'm in the Julie Andrews camp myself, so this whole "Goddess: Judy Garland" thing is kind of absurd and I definitely became LESS of a fan when I found out she had an affair with Orson Welles.  And what about our Lesbian sisters?  They're totally not represented at all with this outdated idiom because they're not into musical theater like us gay men.  They obviously prefer shopping at Home Depot for their endless home improvement projects while wearing sensible shoes.  The cruise lines don't call it "Friends of Dorothy & Pals with Toolbelts" now do they?  That would be ridiculous, right??
    
3. I think we've reach a point in our existence where it's safe to put the term "LGBTQ+ and Friends" on the cruise calendar.  If everyone knows or can figure out what FOD is anyway, let's call it what it needs to be called.  And for god's sake ... NO MORE LETTERS!  If you feel you need another letter for yourself we've already got you covered with the "+" thing.  "+" is good!  "+" = "the more the merrier".  "+" means the same as like, "Once I got through check-in, and got on the ship, they handed me a cocktail and I snagged another one off the tray when no one was looking!... that was a plus!!"  .  I'm old enough to remember when there were only 2 letters, L & G.  Then the "B's" got pissed and that got the "T's" and the "Q's" attention.  I did see "I" and "A" tagged on the back of that for a while, but not so much anymore.  Look... there are only so many letters in the alphabet, we all know them by heart, but probably only in one direction while humming a tune to ourselves.  And not for nothing, you don't need to have your own letter to hang with us.
    
4. If you're straight, and decided to show up to a LGBTQ+ gathering because you saw "and Friends" in the title, then you're probably cool and you can hang with us.

 

All kidding aside, don't get me wrong... I'm all for meeting other LGBTQ+ folks on a cruise and would NOT like to see these special gatherings go away because I think they definitely have their place.  There's a kind of security in knowing that there's at least SOMETHING we already have in common.

 

I'm tired of this now... post over.

Agree 100%