The Balcony of Life
Standing on the corner of 8th and Idaho street, there
are two men handing out pamphlets calling people to repentance. The pamphlets
quote the Bible and name homosexuality and other sexual behaviors as sinful and name all sorts of eternal
consequences. Most people ignore them, or throw the pamphlets in the trash. The reason they have chosen this corner to hand out their righteous indignation is because right above them is one of the trendiest places in Boise, its on the second
level and it’s called The Balcony and it overlooks the street. The Balcony is a
gay bar that is straight friendly. You can sit on the patio of The Balcony and
watch the night life move at a fun pace on a weekend. There is a three dollar cover charge to get
into the Balcony, well worth it. It is ten o’clock and people are just
arriving. Some people dress up, there are a few women in princess dresses, one
woman in a wedding dress. I see a man all in black, he has a black fedora on
with black goggles on his hat, a black leather vest and no shirt. His black
gloves have green and pink lights in the finger tips and when he dances his
hands light up the dance floor.
There are some transvestites and some people are gender neutral.
Most people are there just to dance, drink and have fun. I’m there for a birthday party of an ex-mormon and there are about 20 of us. We are drinking
and dancing and just enjoying life. Like most gatherings of ex-mormons, there is
some talk of how it feels to leave the mormon church, but tonight I just want to
feel like a human, so I avoid this talk.
After two hours of dancing, I’m tired and I sit on the patio with Ray and watch
the night life below and the people dance inside. The people inside are of every
age group; there are people in their 20’s and all the way up to their 60’s; there are people of
every race as well as every gender. Nobody gives a shit or seems to notice the differences.
In this place, we are all just humans having a good time.
This is the hope of the future, that we can learn to be human together.
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