This has been bothering me for quite some time…
This happened about a month ago, at a time when some friends and I were in the habit of spending Friday nights at Norton’s Country Corner in Queen Creek. (It’s on the corner of Ellsworth and Ocotillo, ten miles south of the 60). The place is basically Bob’s Country Bunker from Blues Brothers – except there’s no chicken wire at Norton’s. I will always look back fondly on my time spent there as “my country moment.”
Friends and I had been going for a while, as we knew the lead singer (he was my boyfriend at the time) so we knew the crowd pretty well. The place was usually packed except when Country Thunder, NASCAR, and Brad Paisley were in town. Those nights were pretty quiet. There was a Texas rodeo cowboy named Keith, who was there every night until he decided to move back to Texas. The place is always full of real cowboys and people who see a pair of Wranglers and cowboy boots as a uniform. The trucks in the parking lot are big and sometimes carrying a bale or two of hay.
I had heard from the boyfriend at the time that there was a lesbian couple that came out to dance, but I never saw them. They came on Saturday nights, so I missed them. Now can you just imagine a lesbian couple in a good ‘old boys country bar?
It is quite a sight, as I can attest to, because I finally saw it about a month ago. At first, it was strange. We were in awe as we watched the blissfully happy couple dancing together.
“Is that what we think it is?” We asked ourselves. “Are we looking at two lesbian cowgirls dancing together in a hick town country bar? No way!”
It was cool. I had never seen such a happy couple. They were looking only into each other’s eyes and didn’t notice the rest of us noticing them. It was the kind of obvious bliss you see shared between a little old couple walking through the park hand in hand. They shared the kind of looks a mom and dad share as they watch their kids play on Christmas morning. The looks were of true love and understanding shared by only the best of couples.
I knew as I watched that lesbian couple dancing together that this was it. This was the kind of love we all are looking for whether gay, straight or other. I watched those two ladies dancing together and knew that was the kind of love I wanted. I also realized it wasn’t the kind of love I had. My boyfriend and I broke up days later and I’ve found someone I think I might actually have the potential to share that kind of love with. It’s still new, so only time will tell. I don’t want to jinx it either!
As the night at Norton’s wore on, the blonde lesbian sat down next to me. Apparently, there was trouble in the midst of what seemed so perfect. It seems some people at the bar had a problem with there being a lesbian couple on the dance floor.
“Why are people like that?” She asked me. “I mean, I love this woman. Why can’t people leave us alone?”
I told her I didn’t know. I told her how I was from San Francisco and wasn’t used to seeing lesbians being overly affectionate in a place like Queen Creek. I told her how, where I come from, being openly gay and in love was never a problem, just part of life.
I didn’t tell her how I watched her and her girlfriend on the dance floor and wished I had that kind of love. Maybe I should have.
As Phoenix becomes more of a melting pot each year, it never ceases to shock me how we stay in the stone ages for tolerance even as the city and surrounding areas become more diverse in every way. I don’t know the details on who did what to those girls that night…details got lost in a haze of the kind of stiff drinks you can only get at a cowboy bar in the middle or nowhere.
I’m not sure who said what or how often it happened, as the girls go to Norton’s quiet often. It seemed to my friends and I as we watched them dance that they were the most popular couple out there. It seemed to us that everyone wanted to dance with or talk to the lesbians! But maybe there is always that one person so threatened by an openly gay relationship that they can’t live and let live. Maybe there is always that one person that spoils a good night on the town.
I wish it weren’t that way.
Friends and I had been going for a while, as we knew the lead singer (he was my boyfriend at the time) so we knew the crowd pretty well. The place was usually packed except when Country Thunder, NASCAR, and Brad Paisley were in town. Those nights were pretty quiet. There was a Texas rodeo cowboy named Keith, who was there every night until he decided to move back to Texas. The place is always full of real cowboys and people who see a pair of Wranglers and cowboy boots as a uniform. The trucks in the parking lot are big and sometimes carrying a bale or two of hay.
I had heard from the boyfriend at the time that there was a lesbian couple that came out to dance, but I never saw them. They came on Saturday nights, so I missed them. Now can you just imagine a lesbian couple in a good ‘old boys country bar?
It is quite a sight, as I can attest to, because I finally saw it about a month ago. At first, it was strange. We were in awe as we watched the blissfully happy couple dancing together.
“Is that what we think it is?” We asked ourselves. “Are we looking at two lesbian cowgirls dancing together in a hick town country bar? No way!”
It was cool. I had never seen such a happy couple. They were looking only into each other’s eyes and didn’t notice the rest of us noticing them. It was the kind of obvious bliss you see shared between a little old couple walking through the park hand in hand. They shared the kind of looks a mom and dad share as they watch their kids play on Christmas morning. The looks were of true love and understanding shared by only the best of couples.
I knew as I watched that lesbian couple dancing together that this was it. This was the kind of love we all are looking for whether gay, straight or other. I watched those two ladies dancing together and knew that was the kind of love I wanted. I also realized it wasn’t the kind of love I had. My boyfriend and I broke up days later and I’ve found someone I think I might actually have the potential to share that kind of love with. It’s still new, so only time will tell. I don’t want to jinx it either!
As the night at Norton’s wore on, the blonde lesbian sat down next to me. Apparently, there was trouble in the midst of what seemed so perfect. It seems some people at the bar had a problem with there being a lesbian couple on the dance floor.
“Why are people like that?” She asked me. “I mean, I love this woman. Why can’t people leave us alone?”
I told her I didn’t know. I told her how I was from San Francisco and wasn’t used to seeing lesbians being overly affectionate in a place like Queen Creek. I told her how, where I come from, being openly gay and in love was never a problem, just part of life.
I didn’t tell her how I watched her and her girlfriend on the dance floor and wished I had that kind of love. Maybe I should have.
As Phoenix becomes more of a melting pot each year, it never ceases to shock me how we stay in the stone ages for tolerance even as the city and surrounding areas become more diverse in every way. I don’t know the details on who did what to those girls that night…details got lost in a haze of the kind of stiff drinks you can only get at a cowboy bar in the middle or nowhere.
I’m not sure who said what or how often it happened, as the girls go to Norton’s quiet often. It seemed to my friends and I as we watched them dance that they were the most popular couple out there. It seemed to us that everyone wanted to dance with or talk to the lesbians! But maybe there is always that one person so threatened by an openly gay relationship that they can’t live and let live. Maybe there is always that one person that spoils a good night on the town.
I wish it weren’t that way.
posted by Heather Larson @ 3:28 PM
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