You Can't Sit With Us (Ted Cruz & A Gay Sophie's Choice on Fire Island) [Not for the squeamish]

The Huffington Post's The Blog ^ | April 27, 2015 | Eric Ulloa, playwright and actor

[2ndDivisionVet]

Fire Island is a magical place.

After my first trip out to the Pines a decade ago, I remember describing it as "Wonderland" to those friends who had yet to experience it. The moment the ferry slowly pulled into the harbor, I was smiling ear to ear as I watched a sanctuary reveal itself before me. Men were walking hand in hand with no fear of a dirty look or dangerous encounter. Pride flags blew in the breeze from every rooftop. You could dance the hours away into the night and then feel the ocean breeze whip across your face as you traversed the boardwalk home. I came as a 23 year old with a day bag hoping to find a friend to crash with, progressed into a customer of the notorious Botel (a place everyone needs to experience and check off the gay bucket list) and now find myself a share holder in my mid-thirties. I've watched friends become property and business owners and I see the enhancements they bring to our fabled paradise. I hear the laughter of my friends as we have one too many Planter's Punch cocktails at Low Tea and I feel the sadness of an era of men who saw their final sunsets right on the very dunes that I walk on.

It's hallowed ground and pleasure island. It's the lifeblood that gets many of us through the arduous New York City winters.

"So what if slushing ice is pummeling my face, in only a few months I'll be in short shorts on the boardwalk... I can make it... I can make it!"

Throughout my 10 years going to the Pines, the businesses that make up the harbor have seen a number of different owners. Every year, there are new changes and new ideas...

[2ndDivisionVet]

Ugh.

[Resolute Conservative]

Happy to say I have not been northeast since the Clinton years and never plan on returning.

[SoConPubbie]

    Ted Cruz Ping!

    If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.
    Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!

    CRUZ or LOSE!

[Lake Living]

Such a happy place - just like before the flood came and took them all away and the fire fell at Sodom. Happy, happy, happy! There is pleasure in sin for a season - but very long payment plan at the end.

[max americana]

The author is a playright and actor. Hey everybody, let’s take him seriously here!

[bjorn14]

He forgot to mention why there were so many changes in ownership is because they died of AIDS.

[CatherineofAragon]

"The man is one of the most reviled and dangerous figures in our community. How they were able to physically stomach a meal while in his midst is a complete mystery to me."

LOL, what a bunch of fragile little flowers.

Their weak stomachs somehow get a lot stronger when it's time to play in each other's feces.

[Blue Collar Christian]

And this, my FRiends, is supposed to NOT be repulsive.

[Svartalfiar]

I came as a 23 year old with a day bag hoping to find a friend to crash with, progressed into a customer of the notorious Botel (a place everyone needs to experience and check off the gay bucket list)

Sex, sex, sex, sex!

I don't see any normal people going to the Bunny Ranch or any other brothel and saying it's something every straight dude needs to add to his bucket list. Seriously.

[Flatus I. Maximus]

Sadly, you’re absolutely right.

[IronJack]

the ferry slowly pulled into the harbor,

I think the author misspelled "fairy." And I didn't know "harbor" was a queer euphemism for the anal sphincter.

[lurk]

Wow. Never heard of the place. As full of disease as the restroom floor of a Cleveland Denny’s.

[saleman]

Boy. The “gay community” is so inclusive......Just like the Democrat party. Actually they are one and the same. That’s not fair though. There are actually some Democrat’s that don’t like to screw other men where the sun don’t shine. And maybe some women(not Hillary) who don’t like to strap one on.

I know. But you have to trust me on this. ALL Democrat’s are not depraved. Not sexually depraved anyway.

The stench on Fire Island during a hot summer night must be horrible.

[RansomOttawa]

This is basically my gay Sophie's Choice, and I loathe being put into this predicament,

Oh god, it's like the Holocaust all over again!

[Mercat]

“The soul of the island goes deeper than a tea dance.” Pretty much sums it up.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

He’th jutht tho . . . courageouth!

[Robert Teesdale]

Having grown up on Long Island and with great memories as a toddler of the Fire Island beach in the early 70's... I went to the link and read the post.

"We have to stand unified and not drop a cent on a vodka soda or 10 dollars on a mediocre hamburger. We have to understand that our dignity costs more than a cocktail or a dance on the dock. The men that built that paradise that we now frequent, fought and died so that we could be afforded the freedoms we have. The soul of the island goes deeper than a tea dance. Every groove on that boardwalk holds our history. Every grain of sand on that beach holds our struggle. We would be spitting in the face of all those who have come and gone before us."

What is the LBQT equivalent of a marble statue of a man on horseback, rearing?

I had no idea Fire Island was taken by brave gays with rifles, fighting and dying on the sands of Fire Island and Jones Beach, pushing up at great bloody cost through Nassau and Suffolk until the very Gold Coast itself yielded to those brave warriors and their mud and sand spattered artillery.

The bitter advance of the hard, grim faced Rainbow Legion rivaled the Charge of the Light Brigade as they bled and killed their way through Locust Valley and took Oyster Bay.

"We have to stand unified and not drop a cent on a vodka soda or 10 dollars on a mediocre hamburger. We have to understand that our dignity costs more than a cocktail or a dance on the dock. The men that built that paradise that we now frequent, fought and died so that we could be afforded the freedoms we have. The soul of the island goes deeper than a tea dance. Every groove on that boardwalk holds our history. Every grain of sand on that beach holds our struggle. We would be spitting in the face of all those who have come and gone before us.

Hyperbole much? Three guys had a conversation and subculturally, this is the second coming of the Somme?

[2ndDivisionVet]

My late father helped take, among other places, the island of Okinawa and the port of Inchon. So you can guess how I feel about the implied comparison.

[EternalVigilance]

I can smell the sulfur.

[RKBA Democrat]

But it’s a happy article. I’ve decide that in honor of the author of each anti-Cruz article that I see, I’m going to donate $5 to his campaign. In their names.

So in “honor” of Mr. (Or is it Mrs.?) Eric Ulloa, I donate $5 to the Cruz for President Campaign in YOUR honor!