Living outside the stereotype.Name: Scott Williams Age: 18 Hometown home·town n. The town or city of one's birth, rearing, or main residence. Noun 1. hometown - the town (or city) where you grew up or where you have your principal residence; "he never went back to his hometown again" : San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif I'm feeling like I don't fit in This season 9 episode of the MTV series True Life features three individuals who do not fit in. Stevie, a 16-year-old high school student from Westminster, Colorado (A middle class suburb of Denver), has a love for the New York Dolls, a glam-rock band. . At school or church I'm treated like "that gay guy." But I'm also treated just as differently at the Billy DeFrank Billy DeFrank was the stage name of William Price (1936-1986), an African-American drag entertainer and gay rights activist from San Jose, California. He is the eponym for San Jose's Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. gay community center in my hometown. While there, I've heard other gay people say, "Oh, he's not really gay," or "What's he doing here?" I don't fit the stereotype of a gay 18-year-old who runs around in a tight-fitting Abererombie & Fitch T-shirt and designer sunglasses Designer Sunglasses is the name given to sunglasses made by designer label companies such as Christian Dior, Chanel and Ray Ban. The look and models change from season to season. The 'in-model' for 2006 will be outdated by new models for 2007 driven by the high powered fashion business talking about last night's episode of Queer Eye Queer Eye (originally Queer Eye for the Straight Guy)[1] is an hour-long American Emmy award-winning television gay series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network on July 15, 2003, and promptly became both a surprise hit and one of the most for the Straight Guy. But at the same time I don't talk about the winning touchdown from a football game or how I "nailed" some girl the other night. It's as if I'm not straight enough or gay enough for the world. To me, the gay community is driven by sex. It's everywhere--on television, in advertising, in anything geared toward gays. At the San Jose pride festival this past June, I found myself surrounded by booths offering free lube and condoms, porn stars signing autographs, and leather boutiques featuring live "pleasure" performances. But I am not interested in having sex right now, so I asked myself, What am I doing at this festival? Even though straight people in my generation have taken huge leaps toward the full acceptance of gays and lesbians, I still have a hard time fitting in to the image they have selected for me. I don't have a straight girl friend to go shopping with and give advice to on dating boys, and I definitely don't have any guy friends to whom I give style tips or help to understand women's emotions. In fact, most straight guys still run when they hear the word "gay." So why are we still driven by stereotypes? I hope that one day I will be accepted by all for being me. And I hope that future gay youth never have to face this problem. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion