SpikeTheLobsterAre You Gay?
March 5th 2009 23:10
Probably the safest 'Gay' image from a Google search
'Twas the day before Christmas, here in my home town.
Just West of Brighton, next to the South Downs.
The library beckoned, I wanted a book,
My desire to read had me on a hook.
Just West of Brighton, next to the South Downs.
The library beckoned, I wanted a book,
My desire to read had me on a hook.
Alright, I'll stop. I'm rubbish at poetry. This is something that happened to me just before Christmas last year which made me think about social mores and how our society is changing.
As my above nonsense recounts, I was on my way to the library on Christmas Eve when I was stopped by a man of around my own age. He was somewhat inebriated, but not offensive or violent-looking: he apologised for stopping me and said he just needed to talk to somebody because he was alone. With Christmas looming, his solitude had obviously made him feel somewhat morose and lost.
I stopped and we chatted. His name was Martin. When I explained that I was headed to the library, he told me it was closed (which saved me a bit of a walk) and we got to talking about books. In fact, we had a very pleasant discussion for five or ten minutes, but the thing that surprised me was when, in mid-conversation, he asked:
"Are you gay?"
Thankfully, I was brought up with no particularly strong prejudices. Yes, we all have some, but my parents were not racist, sexist, homophobic or anything else like that (surprising, considering my father was a fundamentalist Christian preacher - but he knew how not to pass on any prejudices he may have had). Consequently, I was able to simply smile and reply in the negative.
Quite apart from soliciting an ego-boosting response (he may have been drunk, but being told "you're gorgeous" is always nice), this made me think how society has changed in my lifetime. To ask someone point-blank whether they are gay would have been inviting rebuttal and possible violence when I was a teenager.
Admittedly, I now live close to Brighton, which is pretty much the gay capital of the south, but I still found this heart-warming. The ability to openly ask must surely say something about us as humans - even if he was drunk!
I'm sure this is important in some way, but can't quite put my finger on what effect it has on my ideas and my writing - so I thought I'd see if anyone else had better insight on the possible impact. Help me out here, if you can.
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Comment by Postmodern Critic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
I think it's great that society on the whole is becoming more open-minded, especially where male homosexuality is concerned (as that is usually more taboo than the female version). I'm attracted to both men and women, and I do like to ask people about sexual orientation because I find people's attitudes towards their orientation interesting. It's an emerging area of study ('queer' studies) and quickly becoming a more acceptable subject matter.