Open for debate

One of the blogs I like to check almost every day is Aussielicious. I have a great attraction to all things Australian, and Brenton writes a great blog and has some fantastic pictures. I recently read an article in which he "interviewed" a straight reader of his "gay" blog. I thought this was great, showing that "the line" can be crossed. Unfortunately, some other readers thought that this was an oportunity to "out" said straight guy in the comments that they made. Brenton was disappointed with this response (as was I when I read them) as it seems like another excuse for gay men to keep themselves as outsiders while pretending to fight for equality. Check out the original article, and the response and see what you think. Do not forget to check the comments section!!

Now I realise that my comments here can come across as a little hypocritical, considering the comments I made about women in gay bars the other day.
I HATE hen parties, especially when they think it is fine to waltz into a gay bar / club and gawk at the gay men. I feel that this is the equivalent of straight guys gawking at a group of women who are totally not interested.
I have chatted to some women in groups like these and you get the obvious questions, like "Are you sure your gay?", "How do you know if you haven't tried it?" etc., etc. Then again, I hate loud groups of girls anyway, they are so rude and annoying, the same goes for loud queens, totally annoying and unnecessary!!

Getting back to the issue at hand, straight guys, and how straight are they. In my opinion sexuality can be seen as a full spectrum of attraction. From 100% gay, to 50/50 bi, to 100% straight. I class myself as 100% gay (I have never been further than kissing with a girl, I have never had a girlfriend and I have never wanted to "experiment" by having sex with girls). I've known forever, at least since I was 7 when I had a crush on our window-cleaner!
I work in an industry where you would expect homophobia to be rife, security. But I have found that once someone has got past the initial "Oh my god, he's gay!" thing, that the majority are fine with it. Many ask questions, which is fine as they are trying to understand something which they possibly haven't thought about much before. I had more hassle from co-workers when I worked as a shop assistant!!
I get the odd comment calling me a "poof", "batty boy", or "faggot", but these are all made in jest and respond in kind with comments like "breeder" etc. The more these words are used in general conversation, the less power they have to hurt. At least that is what I think.

I have been told, on more than one occasion, by straight co-workers, that I have changed the way that they feel about gay guys. People seem to like the fact that I am open and honest and can take a joke about my sexuality without making it an issue.
I can think of 1 guy specifically who, apparently, was very homophobic before he met me. We were both employed as sales asssistant by BHS when it opened in Torquay. 6 weeks of training in a small group of 8 people made us all bond quite closely, especially as we had an hours trip in a mini-bus every day for 2 weeks to and from another store for training. I was told later, as I hadn't noticed it at the time, but this guy would never accept sweets from me if I offered them around in the bus, though he would from others. But, after working alongside me, (in adjacent departments), he alterred his opinion and he now doesn't "hate all poofs!" All he had seen previously had been stereotypes, but now he had actually met and got to know someone who happened to be gay. Thus, he was allowed to form his own opinion.

I like to think that, if I do nothing else remarkable in this world, that I at least made some people change their opinion and helped make them more tolerant.