The world's not a perfect place. It never will be.
Knowing that, it's still funny to me how archaic and stuck in the 1950's some of our minds tend to be these days.
Allow me to explain.
The Saskatchewan Rush lacrosse team, which became very popular very quickly as soon as the team moved to the land of green and white from Edmonton a handful of years ago, have a home game coming up in Saskatoon on Saturday, February 25. They're going up against the Vancouver Warriors, who I'm happy to say the team trounced on their home turf a week ago. (I'm from Saskatchewan, so no, I'm not going to be neutral here, sorry)
So, on February 25, it's rematch time when Vancouver visits us. But in a bizarre state of events, not much attention is being paid to the upcoming game action that fans are going to see, rather what is taking place at half-time.
The entertainment between the first and second half of the game is going to be a performer by the name of Karma K, a Saskatoon local who also happens to be a transgender woman and drag queen artist.
Cue the shock, the proverbial pearl-clutching, and the cries of "WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!?!?".
The sad part is, I only wish I was kidding when I say that.
As soon as that information was posted to social media, you'd think that someone was calling in a bomb threat for the building that night.
A few responses from the entertainment announcement:
"I was a supporter of lacrosse for not going political during covid. Too late I guess. I am out. First the riders now this."
"Children attend rush games, this is no show for kids. Child groomers shake your head hard."
"Hope you see a huge decrease in sales and attendance."
"And for this reason I won't ever attend a Rush game."
"You know children will be there right?"
"Simple fix, stop buying Rush tickets. See how many show up to support this. That will tell everyone how much support their is for this stuff."
"No more rush games for me. Go woke and go broke. Sick that an organization will allow these people the opportunity to groom and influence children. Shame on you Saskatchewan Rush."
"Really? You want this in front of the kids that are there to watch their favourite team?"
That's a sampling of the rhetoric, spelling and grammatical errors included. A very real part of me believes there was also a cleansing exercise as well as some chants of healing involved, but I can't say for certain.
From my perspective, all I can do is shake my head and grin at the laughable circus this became all too quickly. And here's the thing, just so I can get it out of the way - this kind of entertainment's not my thing. It's not my world, it's not my wheelhouse, and odds are the music is going to be some very pop-sounding material, and that's never been my bag to begin with.
Now, if Karma K happened to come out with a Les Paul or a Gibson and started shredding while belting out some Tom Petty or Guns n' Roses, consider my butt parked in my seat and watching intently. Yas, queen! But I'm an old rocker, and I've just never been a pop guy.
But I'm also not dragging an entire sports organization under the wheels of the bus, shaming any of the supporters, or condemning everyone to Hell for saying that it's okay for this to exist and be performed in front of the audience. Sure, it's not my personal preference, but what kind of holier-than-thou elitist would I be to say that it's not okay for kids to watch her perform? I mean, seriously, the size of the sheer ego from some of the detractors might rival the Grand Canyon. THIS person shouldn't be allowed to perform, but it's completely okay for YOU to claim that MY kids also shouldn't watch it? Ridiculous.
The whole meat of the thing is really where the outrage loses me. It's a person who used to be a man and is now a woman, dressed to the nines, and performing maybe a song or two. Okay, fair enough. What exactly is the fear here? Will the power of the music cause kids in the audience to stand on their seats and start belting out Rihanna or Gwen Stefani? Are parents going to put ear plugs in their kids' ears for fear that the music will inspire them to "go gay" or something? Will seeing Karma K cause kids to ask themselves, 'Do I wanna be a boy or a girl?'
No, the whole thing sadly comes back to religion, I'm afraid. Because being born a man and choosing to become a woman is wrong, apparently, and vice versa. If that's your belief, then you are absolutely welcome to hold it.
If you're really worried about "child grooming" and despicable acts being committed against our youngest citizens, why don't we include the church in the conversation? Because there's only about a hundred years or more of horror stories coming from all kinds of rectories and behind closed confessional doors.
No? Did I hit a nerve? Did things become "just too real"? Do you see the hypocrisy of your shaky stand against this?
Okay then. Sit down, calm down, and let the colourful performer sing a song or two while you're going to the john, or grabbing a beer, or grabbing a hotdog, or checking out the merchandise stand before the players return to the turf.
For this week, and from the lower section of the SaskTel Centre at the upcoming Rush game, that's been the Ruttle Report.
