Near the end of an elevator ride of just four floors after dinner this evening, a clearly straight, Daniel Craig rugged sorta-lookin-guy across the elevator from us growled an offer to bust my face in (or something close to that) if I ever touch his ass like that again. My only recollection of being anywhere near the guy was at one point when his elbow brushed against my hand (not mine against his, mind you), which must have been as we were entering the elevator, passing the crowd of people who were pouring off. - I didnt even notice it at the time. I only recalled it in retrospect later as he walked away, because the texture of his shirt was unusual. Im still learning to decipher the Aussie dialect, and those of you who know me well are aware of my hearing disability, even when someone is directly facing me. Having learned to not trust what I think I hear someone say, and not believing the guy could possibly have said what I thought I heard, I noticed my instinctive reaction to begin to reach toward the guy to touch his shoulder in a friendly way . . . . when something instinctive kicked in. He had 6 inches on me and seemed menacing somehow. I didnt reach out toward him. Sorry, I said seeking his eyes. I didnt understand you. Im sure you didnt, he said angrily and sarcastically, still not looking at me. Still unbelieving, I persisted. Im really just not understanding what you said. He then looked at me for the first time and said, You know what you did. That was the first time I knew for sure hed been talking to me and not to Glenn. I then said, I honestly didnt understand what you said. Were not from here. (Sounds so goofy, hunh??? You all know thats exactly what I said. Like, We aint from around these parts . . .) He harrumphed and turned away, the door opened, and he walked out and away quickly, leaving Glenn and me to sort out what hed said and what hed meant. I believe he was actually seething with anger, and restraining himself from getting physical with me. That was close to four hours ago. Ive been lying here in bed thinking about it for three hours. Feels like there was something I should have done in the face of the misjudgment and the threat. Im feeling oddly disempowered by it somehow. Feeling like somehow both Americans and gay people got simultaneously misjudged and even bashed by this guy, though not physically. So, I finally decided Id write about it. I had felt only the warmest, kindest welcome and reception from everyone in Australia for the past two weeks. Very unpleasant feeling at the moment, though. Hope I can put it down for our last day here tomorrow.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 16:36:53 +0000
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