First of all, from my experience at Pride festivals both large and small, I have yet to see anyone with my level of flamboyance. I've been told I can be seen by everyone from Ray Charles to Russians on the International Space Station. (Not that their government would let them admit it.)
But I also make this statement of uniqueness based on actual data. A bisexual, heterosexually married father of one, working as a high school teacher in a small town, I figure there's not too many people who share that resume. More, I can prove it.
For the moment, let's ignore that bisexual thing. Although just for a moment. (Having spent 44 years in the closet I gotta lot of time to make up for.) Let's look at all those other numbers.
I know there are 9.6 million married families with one child, or about 16 percent.(1) Next, there are 1.2 million high school teachers in the United States. (2)
So, that means there are about 192,000 of me when you combine those two groups. Throw in that only 19 percent of the country lives in a rural area, and there are now only 36,000 of me. (1)
Which now brings me back to that bisexual thing. Trying to pin down just how many bisexuals are in the country is quite difficult. Mainly because none of us will stay still long enough get pinned down. Too many bad memories of playing "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" as a kid. (Which I still liked better than "Smear the Queer.")
However, according to the most recent data I could find, about 1.8 percent of people identify themselves as bisexual. (3) Now what THAT actually means we'll talk about some other time. But if that number is accurate, the number of me just dropped to 648.
Now, is 648 technically unique? No, but consider this: You are more likely to die from am asteroid colliding with the earth in the next one hundred years: (1 in 500,000) than you are to be me. (4) Or, to put it another way, demographically you are more likely to meet identical triplets than someone like myself. (5)
Now, throw in the fact that I used to be a performer for Disney on Ice and a mascot for an SEC university. And I've also been an award-winning journalist as well as a nationwide best-selling author. At this point, you're more likely to run into a Norwegian African-American named Lopez than someone like me. (6)
I tell you all this not to impress. But simply to point out that I really do have a unique perspective on things. I see things differently, and I try to bring that to everything I do.
It's also why when I tell you something you should know I'm not making it up. All those little numbers in the text? Those are for citations at the end. There's so much ignorance in the world about LGBT issues, that I don't want to add to it. If I write it down, you should be able to know I didn't just pull it out of my clevis.
Having said that, if you ever think my numbers or wrong, or just my ideas, let me know. And more, if you have questions, ask them: I'd love to find answers. That's the whole point of an Unbroken Raina Thought: To teach and to learn. (Starting with make-up tips. Anyone know how to keep that stuff from melting under show lights?)
See ya' next week.
REFERENCES:
1) From the 2010 census
2) The National Center for Educational Statistics
2A) Everyone that works The National Center for Educational Statistics was probably a math geek in high school.
3) Williams Institute review, April, 2011
4) Divine Caroline. (Note: I have no idea where Caroline gets her data, And truth be told, there are lots of different odds out there about how you can be vaporized by things falling from space. But as long as none of them are Russian homophobes, you're probably safe. In any case, check out www.divinecaroline.com/entertainment/what-are-odds-0. It's got some amusing stuff.)
5) The Christian Post
6) OK, I made that one up. But I'm pretty sure.