I’m choosing to do a blog today that is a bit more upbeat. My last few blogs have had a kind of downer tone to them and I just want to post today about how I feel and some of my experiences with the topic.
While I was in high school, I only knew one or two openly gay or bisexual people, both of whom were women. I really believe that men have a harder time coming out than women do because of the social expectations that they be “manly”, which includes the criteria of being sexually attracted to women. I, for one, understand that I can never really understand what it is like to be homosexual and deal with coming out to friends and family, but I have seen friends recently who have started the process and I can see the struggle.
It breaks my heart that so many young people are still so prejudiced against alternative lifestyles. But I found hope in my last visit to my old high school which I made a post about on October 5th. Not only did I get to conduct that interview, but I got to observe some more. There is a young man in my old English teacher’s class who is openly gay. He is quite flamboyant and wears his colors proudly. Half of the class groans whenever he opens his mouth, which I actually find amusing. I asked my teacher about him. She told me that she has never had any trouble or has ever overheard anyone bullying or picking on him for being gay. But he does get his fair share for talking non-stop and being loud.
I am happy about this observation because that tells me that his being gay is such a non-issue to these teens that they are not including that aspect of this personality into what irks them. I know it may sound strange, but it makes me smile. Yes, they are still annoyed by him, but it’s because he’s obnoxious, not because he’s gay.
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