Nobody is going to want to hear me say this...

A while back there was this theatre play, I can't think of the name of it. It's all about the sordid lives of a large family of Macho-Mexo-Texicans. It was actually a pretty big hit where I live. One of the cowboys was a crossdressing queer (This is a billing point even) and on stage, he is seen wearing a Utilikilt. Now, when I go to the coffee shop, or a place where certain types of almost-cultured people hang out, people ask me (because I am kilted) about those funny looking "queer kilts," Utilikilts is now branded, at least in my little area, as a homosexual garmet. And the conversation eventually comes around to Richard Hatch, the homosexual guy from Survivor, that also wore a "queer kilt." I personally find this alarming, and there has been more then one occasion where somebody flat out asked me if I was gay because of what I am wearing. The other day when somebody asked, it was not in a bad way, and ended up in a conversation, the guy really didn't know much about them. Near the end of the conversation, he asked "So tartan kilts are for men and those little black kilts are for homos?" He didn't get it. I tried to explain that solid coloured kilts are for men too. Conversation ended when the man got on his bus, and he went away confused.

It's kinda sad really, so much ground has been gained for the kilt, and, Utilikilts deserve a lot of that. They did make a big stab at making it mainstream, but, they are doing nothing to maintain the masculine image of the kilt. It is rapidly becoming an icon for a certain type of demographic and this worries me. Whether this is intentional or accidental, this could chain a stigma or a stereotype to our garmet. I wonder sometimes, if a major kilt maker, any of them, might shoot for a niche market and directly market to a certain type of community. I fear the reaction that could come of this.