Lately, I’ve been judging audiences before I get to them, and many have been teaching me the error of my ways.

On stage, I am a somewhat opinionated storyteller. I delve into politics, but do so in a way that does not polarize people. At the end of my shows, I generally have a half a dozen people shaking my hand and believing they know something about me; “You sure are a fine Republican,” one person will tell me. “You voted for Obama, didn’t you?” the next will ask.

I take it as a compliment that while on stage, I don’t divide the audience, I unite them in quality confusion. I think the media plays up our differences, and allows us to play against one another. “You’re pro-life, or a murderer!” we’re told in black and white, terms, with no gray area. “You love America, or you’re a Democrat!” “You go to church, or you’re going to hell!” And so on down the line.

As a man who is both extremely pro-death penalty, but voted for Obama, is 110% for gay marriage, but thinks jumping into the Universal Health Care Pool is a bit extreme, I believe I am a real American: a walking contradiction of multiple beliefs and ideas.

While I know this about myself, and try to remember it in others, I still am taken by surprise on occasion. I was recently doing a one-night bar gig, in a small town in a very red state, and was talking about my tours for American troops. Every so often, when I hit a punch line right-wingers like, I’ll hear a cry of “Nathan for president!” I generally brush it off, but this time, for reasons I have yet to understand, I decided to challenge the shouter.

“You wouldn’t want me as president,” I responded. “Do you know what I’d do on my first day in office? I would sign a bill stating gay marriage is absolutely legal, and anyone that didn’t like that could fuck off. We have real issues to deal with, and what two adults do with their lives is of no concern to anyone but those two adults.”

As I was saying it, I wasn’t sure what would happen when I stopped speaking; would I hear silence? Boos? Have items launched at me?

What I didn’t expect is what I heard: thunderous applause. Sustained applause. Enthusiastic applause. Here I was, again, in a red city in a red state—and I did a little searching afterwards, to make sure I wasn’t missing something, like a nearby university or some other pocket of progressive thought—and they were applauding my stance on gay marriage.

Maybe I had pre-judged them incorrectly, or maybe like most people, they were a body of people comprised of contradictory thoughts and beliefs.

And maybe, sometimes when you don’t mince words like most politicians do and just spell it out, people get it.

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