Kilt to prom on Glee tonight in prime time!

[saxandpipes]

I think it's a little of both, but more of the case of the character and the potential for further connotation of the uneducated who think the kilt is a skirt, and is itself cross-dressing, effeminate, etc.

Nobody is making or has made any judgment whatsoever on the validity of homosexuality as a lifestyle, and it has been clearly demonstrated that this forum won't entertain such arguments.
However, if one is to meaningfully discuss the kilt as portrayed in the media, then one must discuss HOW it is portrayed. This has taken us to a realm very close to the border of what is considered "appropriate" by the forum. I think everyone has strived and succeeded to handle the matter maturely and without guile. Strong opinions will abound of course, so let them--as long as they are pertinent to the discussion. It has been educational to say the least on how people have reacted both positively and negatively.

I am not so sure that people have really kept their opinions and judgements quietly to themselves... People seem ever so ready to defend a piece of clothing... but what about the people that are ridiculed, slandered and bashed on a regular basis because they are gay? I realise that this is a kilt forum, so, we are here to discuss, and perhaps if necessary (I don't really think it is!) defend the kilt. But there is a BIGGER issue present here.

Upon reading many of the comments posted here, I feel that many hold the opinion that gay/effeminate/sartorially adventurous (as Kurt from Glee most certainly is) people should be somehow discouraged from wearing the kilt.

One time (less than a month ago), after performing with my pipeband, I was returning through the city, after some sort of town festival thing (in the Netherlands) and some stupid red-neck (in a group of course) uttered "homo!" under his breath as I passed. Now, I was wearing my band uniform... Argyll jacket waistcoat, tie, obviously carrying a set of pipes, and I didn't know what offended me more- the fact he called me a homo, insulting my Scottish heritage, or the fact that he (and by the same token, I) considered "homo" an insult. I was furious, it ruined what was otherwise a great day, and left me with a distinctly bitter taste from my mouth to my stomach. I hadn't felt this way in a very long time, and I have to say that it brought back all kinds of terrible memories.

Kids are committing suicide over this issue, it's bigger than whether a culture can take itself seriously or not. I'm quite sure (although I don't have any statistics) that no Scotsman has ever committed suicide because he was ashamed of his heritage-

quote: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, according to the Massachusetts 2006 Youth Risk Survey. A 2009 study, "Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes" led by Dr. Caitlin Ryan and conducted as part of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, shows that adolescence who were rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide. And for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey).

Seriously people, can we really not stop the hate!?

Some quotes:

Nighthawk: “I just wish it would have been on a character who was not normally regarded as effeminate.”

“Glee... a gay kid... wearing a kilt pleated all the way around like a skirt…”

“I repeat- Joy... So now, given the fact that this character makes it a habit of wearing women's clothing, it will reinforce the American attitude that the kilt is nothing more special than a woman's skirt. Huzzah...”

Biblemonkey: “Wouldn't it have been great if one of the STRAIGHT characters had worn it…”

Tobus: “It's that they took a very flamboyantly effeminate character who, by all reports, regularly dresses in womens' clothing, and put him in a man's garment…”

“…their introduction to the kilt was a gay effeminate cross-dresser who wore it with leggings and knee-high boots…”

Elliottrohan68: “…I agree with the others posts that seeing as this character wears womens clothing often then this is simply looked at as another skirt…”

Zardoz: “I'm not that jazzed about what seems to be the most stereotypically fem gay character on it wearing a kilt.”