I wear kilts because I like them. That's the nature of the answer I give most people when they ask. If someone insists that I must have some Scottish heritage if I'm wearing a kilt, I can give them a vague and rather distant family connection to Scottish royalty.

I also understand the society we live in. Most people associate any kind of skirt with feminine attire and that's why they ask in the first place.

A man has to have a reason to wear something other than trousers, otherwise he's either gay or mentally unstable.

I live in a community that has a large number of recent immigrants from Mexico, India, and the Middle East. Mexicans don't have any cultural equivalent of a kilt or unbifurcated garment for men. They call it, "La Ropa" -- "The Dress", meaning a woman's dress. There's no way to explain a kilt to them except in the context of a garment worn by Scottish men. Then they want to know why a black American is wearing a Scotsman's garment. Out of context, it's still "La Ropa."

I've had this conversation with my landlord who is a Mexican immigrant. He's doing some remodelling on the apartment downstairs.

I brought my caramel workman's UK down for him to look at. He likes the kilt and understands the comfort and practicality of it, but will never wear one because it's outside of his culture.

Which gets back to my political campaign to promote the kilt as modern menswear in a new social and cultural context. I want to make the world a safer place for guys who want to wear kilts.

That puts me at odds with feminist and freestyle propagandists who see the kilt as a unisex garment or just any other skirt, but so be it.

Well, there I go, tilting at windmills again...