Kelly: A ways to go, but we are more accepting of homosexuality

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120826/NEWS/708269940/1685#kelly-a-ways-to-go-but-we-are-more-accepting-of-homosexuality

By Michael Kelly
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20120826&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=708269940&Ref=AR&Profile=1685&maxw=598&maxh=400
Erin Anderson, left, and Beth Rigatuso helped organize a “Vigil Against Violence” in July after a lesbian woman reported that she was the victim of a hate crime. Authorities now say the alleged hate crime was a hoax.


At an international conference in Philadelphia, a volunteer from the Opera Omaha Guild spoke about its award-winning fundraisers — featuring drag queens lip-synching classic arias at an Omaha gay dance club.

“I had to give the presentation twice, it was so popular,” said Lisa Hagstrom, 39. “The majority of people there were older, and they all loved it. A man in his 80s told me it was the coolest idea.”

Most gay people are neither cross-dressers nor flamboyant. But are the opera guild's fundraisers at a gay club an example of a growing acceptance of “gayness” in America?

Lisa, who is straight, said practically all who attended the guild's female-impersonator fundraisers in 2011 and 2012 at the Max dance club downtown were heterosexual.

FULL story at link.

[Occulus]

1. The Opera Omaha Guild did a drag show with an opera theme as a fundraiser?

Awesome!!