AI and homosexuality

the hub bore the bad news this morning. American Idol finalist Mario Vasquez quit the show. the news was disappointing. here we have a very talented Latino who, i believe, could've been in the top two. i believed that when i saw his first audition.
so *talented, *Latino, *attractive.....*SCREEEEEECH*.........pause on "attractive."
after googling mario, hoping to learn why he quit, i find all these sites going on about how he's gayer than if Cher and Jack McFarland were to give birth and have the child raised by Elton John and George Michael.
and my naive first thoughts were 'ok, he's Hispanic, so he probably knocked up some girl and his mother is forcing him to quit and fulfill his manly obligations as a father and husband.'
that's how things would go in my family anyway.
ok, so my gaydar isn't quite up to U.S. Navy quality, but listing clues to his gayness and saying 'where there is smoke there is flame' ? gimme a break.
the sites and blogs go on to say how this is probably why he quit! perhaps i don't understand. if clay aiken didn't have a problem winning and serving as a pop icon, why would mario?
so i should've caught a clue when our most, ahem, flamboyant friend worked on the original season's production that AI is into the queer crowd and doesn't care who knows.
but again, why does this matter?
are people's lives so mundane and simple that they have to yak about gay men to give their existence validity?
so he's gay, who cares. he's still hot, talented and Latino and absolutely has what it takes to be an AI.

speaking of acceptance, it seems, exemplified in the elementary school universe, that equal treatment of homosexuals hasn't progressed a whole lot.
my daughter was regailing me with a story of which Harry Potter character girls in her grade would most like to hook up with. and as expected, the one usual suspect said Hermione. then quickly quipped, "just kidding, just kidding!"
yea, ok.
i seized the moment to remind her of what's acceptable in our family's values. 'and so what if she does want to hook up with hermione, right?' i ask. 'she can if she wants and it wouldn't make her any less of a friend or of a person.'

maybe in a few more years that girl will feel comfortable enough to hang in her locker a poster of hermione. heck, even photo shop it and hang it in her bedroom closet if she wants.

*daydream* gosh. i'd love to be a writer on Will and Grace