Perspective

Last weekend I had the unexpected experience of attending a gay softball game. I haven't played, much less taken seriously, softball since elementary school. Anyway, my friend L- dragged me there as a good deed, I think, trying to get me to be a little more social, and he probably had a point as far as that goes. Talking to one of the players, here's the thing that struck me:

The team I saw play was part of a gay softball league based in NYC. There are, I think, about 10 people on a softball team. There are 4-8 teams per division, and there are 5 divisions in the league. Now, I realize this amounts to, at most, a few hundred people in a city of millions. But here's the thing: that's just the gay people who like to play softball, as opposed to the gay people who play some other sport (I know of a gay roadrunner's club, swimmer's club, and triathlete's club in NYC, off the top of my head). And THAT's only the gay people who like some sport enough to play it competitively as opposed to all the others out there who might be playing whatever but don't have the time or inclination. And THAT's only the gay people who LIKE sports, as opposed to those with some other social hobby.

The lesson here: there is a whole mess of gay people in New York City. The Big Island of the gay archipelago, you might say.