Sex and Sexuality

The first panel of the third row is by far my favorite, contrasting the dominant culture’s reaction to two forms of sexual attraction. From private conversations I’ve had with gay men in the past I know that some of them believe that this is evidence that same sex attraction is easier for women than men, but both reactions are harmful and disgusting. In the second, the sight or idea of two men being affectionate (or even sitting "unnaturally close to each other, effeminately rubbing elbows and exchanging doe-eyes") makes the viewer repulsed, angry, uncomfortable, or violent and leads to immediate policing by word or action. But in the first a personal act of affection is being extruded through another person’s fetish and commodified for that person’s pleasure and consumption. Having a narrative forced onto your love life isn’t fun or easy for anyone. Additionally, the same man declaring two women kissing is hot can become violent very quickly if his advances are met with anything less than enthusiasm.

Essentially this judge, the dishonorable Charley E. Prine Jr. of Harris County, has decided that even though there is no evidence to suggest that a gay man is even statistically AS likely to molest a child, that Flowers cannot trust Evans to watch the children while he does anything. No grocery shopping, no quick run to the store, no day home sick from school. This is the undue burden that is put on queer parents, to be trapped in a situation where another human being’s bigotry and ignorance is much more powerful than your life or the quality thereof. The law also allows the children to be left with persons related to their father by blood or marriage, but since Texas does not recognize Flowers and Evans' marriage, Prine has the power to bully them and rain down animus upon a group of people he doesn’t like, at the same time assuring himself a long and happy career in Texas.