Hey Rich, I realize this may be a foreign concept to you, but some people actually go to see opera because they DO LIKE opera! Rather than going because they're trying to make a political statement, or engage with a "community" they're unfamiliar with, folks usually will go to the opera because they want to hear unamplified, unfiltered, un-fucked-with human voices, accomplishing Olympian feats of singing in some of the most beautiful and expressive music ever written by humans. As a side note, there have actually been several operas written, of varying scale and viewpoint, about various sides of the Queer experience. The fact that this neophyte opera director hasn't bothered to see any of them doesn't bode well.