The Mayor of Casterbridge

It often happens that a non-gay person, who's sympathetic towards the gay people, is often considered -- by and large-- to be gay by both the straight and gay community alike. This situation is very aptly depicted in the movie, "Philadelphia". In this movie,a straight lawyer, played by Denzel Washington, who defends the rights of a gay man with AIDS, who has recently been fired by his company, is approached by a gay law student in a pharmacy, who after applauding the lawyer for his stand asks him out on a date.

Many people face similar situations in real life, and thus it puts one in a delicate situation to be non-gay and yet be gay-friendly. I, for myself, have nothing against the gay people (or against people who dislike eggplant, or who drink Red Bull, or, for that matter, against E.T.s). I never felt threatened by the presence of a gay person, because in my opinion, gay people don't jump on the first person they see, just like a straight person does not.

However, I don't know many people, who inspite of being liberal, would be inclined to walk along in a gay pride parade. And that's what makes New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, different from many of us, who joins the gay rights parade in New York.

Now this does not mean that he's some kind of a saint. No; he's not! He's the same person, who in spite of being a lifelong democrat, ran the Mayoral election under a Republican ticket, because he thought in that way he could avoid the overcrowding of prospective candidates in the Democratic party.He's also a shrewd businessman, and among the World's richest people. And so, it could be that many of his moves are well-calculated.

Nevertheless, he dares to do what he plans! He dares to walk with the gays in the Gay pride parade. And that's what matters.