Oktoberfest season is revving, so I read with amusement a story in Der Spiegel today about how the granddaddy of all Oktoberfests, the one in Munich, has become increasingly gay-friendly over the past 15 years, with a special “Gay Sunday” set aside for tourists and residents alike and brewers setting up special LGBT-themed celebrations at their tents for the duration of Oktoberfest.
Der Spiegel's hook for the story was the acceptance of LGBT folks in Munich, and especially of their money. Which got me thinking: when will OC's major Oktoberfests, the ones at Old World in Huntington Beach and the Phoenix Club in Anaheim, follow the mother ship in catering specifically to LGBT folks?
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The answer, of course, is probably never. The German culture preserved at our local Oktoberfests is ossified, definitely decades behind the progressive politics now prevalent across Germany (even relatively conservative Bavaria is now gay-friendly, the major point of Der Spiegel's article). Think about it: imagine the uproar from the regulars if either of them started hosting Gay Days.
Which really sucks for the bottom line of the two Oktoberfests: not only do LGBT folks have much, much more money than skuzzy skinheads, but you know they'd ROCK dirndls and leiderhosen. How about it QueerInMySoup? Get your tribe together and invade the Phoenix Club!
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