Imagine waking up one morning and the world, as you know it, is a very different place.
Imagine waking up and realizing you are in the minority.
Imagine Whitehorse, if gay was the majority and straight was the exception …
You drive down Two Mile Hill and the first thing you notice is colour. Whitehorse is no longer the city of blue siding. Buildings with style and colours that complement each other replace the ubiquitous government buildings with their monochromatic schemes.
Grounds are tastefully landscaped with flowers and shrubbery.
Hardware stores are still there and still run by lesbians.
You pass a work crew, fixing potholes, and notice that machinery is run by lesbians, except for the “token” straight man who’s there to maintain hiring quotas (he is directing traffic around the job).
You drive into the downtown core and ugliness is nowhere to be found. Style has become de rigueur. Mid-70s stucco is gone.
You near Main Street and notice that nightclubs, with state-of-the-art music systems and giant dance floors, line the street.
At the end of the street, trying to be innocuous, is the only “breeder bar” in town — a place where the straight minority can be comfortable with their own kind, without being stared at.
Main Street boasts cozy bistros with great food and even better service.
The odd straight man really stands out, often with a bad haircut, mismatched clothes, suffering from a distinct lack of style. However, nobody will pay much attention as we have become much more tolerant.
You drive over the Riverdale bridge where the vibe and look of things changes dramatically: colour is less evident, things look greyer, less stylized.
This part of town is reserved for the straight minority.
In breeder territory, men and women hold hands and show affection openly, comfortably knowing they are among brothers and sisters — safe from the chastising eyes of the majority.
Breeders have restaurants and clubs where they meet their own kind. Their restaurants serve exotic things like all-you-can-eat buffets and trucker breakfast specials with enough food for an African village.
Lesbians love eating at these truck stops.
And there are straight bookshops with books about the straight “lifestyle”, about “coming out” and feeling good about being a breeder.
The gay majority visit breeder town on occasion and take in the exotic feel of the place. They tend to keep a low profile and be cool about not staring when breeders kiss or hold hands.
On occasion, a group of gay men have an issue with breeder lifestyle and execute a drive-by decorating on some poor, sad building with no style or colour. But, for the most part, breeders are left alone to live happily in their drab, grey-stucco houses.
As you drive up the South Access, you can look in your rearview and see the bright colours of the downtown core shining in the mid-afternoon sun.
You leave knowing you have visited a town where people believe you can be whomever you choose and that is OK.
Acceptance of alternative lifestyles is a way of life in the northern frontier town and breeders are accepted for who they are, even if they suffer from a distinct lack of style!
