Look, I grew up in small town BC in the 80s and 90s. If you said, "I'm sure of it, I'm positive!" about something on the playground back then, some bully would say, "really, you're positive? hahaha!!!" and that would mean that you were gay and HIV positive. To me, there is no mistaking what he slipped up and joked about, and I don't think it's okay.
My personal journey led to San Francisco and performing a lot with drag queens, etc. in rock shows over the past 15 years. At first, it was a crazy thing to me and my inner homophobia was exposed in ways that made me look in the mirror a lot. The first time a producer wanted me to paint my nails and wear platform boots for a show (I'm a guitar player), all the voices of all the bullies, teammates, etc. from the past were in my head for sure. What would they think?
I got over some stuff and it felt really good, but it took seeing the ugliness in me to get past it. Hopefully, this will help Ron out in that way, as I don't think he meant to hurt anyone with his "joke".
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