Thoughts on the gay bar episode
Now let me start off by saying I’m not blaming the cast for this because it was most likely a production decision, as most things are on reality tv. But there is a serious epidemic of straight people going to gay bars just for funsies. A lot of people in the community have been talking about this problem lately. It’s one thing if you are straight and you go with your gay friend or something. Even if ONE of the cast members was queer it would be fine with me. But it seems like all of them are straight, and they really just wanted to go to the gay bar for the spectacle. Then they invited Parker and all his friends, and this is how it happens where the next thing you know the gay bar is overrun by straights. We have so few spaces where we know we are safe to be ourselves, and we can flirt and dance and meet other gay people. Parker or any of his friends could’ve been homophobic for all we know. Imagine going to a gay bar as a gay person and chatting with someone and asking if you can buy them a drink, and they say something like “ohhh nahhh bro Im not gay haha”, and suddenly you’re feeling a twinge of the old shame, even though you know you shouldn’t. It’s hard to overcome these feelings, and the gay bar is the one place we have. All of them flirting, making out and trying to have their straight hookups in the gay bar just really left a bad taste in my mouth.
Edit: not sure why my thread was locked? But this was my response to u/Sapiosexual2018 that I typed up and then couldn’t hit send on: Thank you for this super sweet response. It sounds like you were very respectful about it and that sounds like a great time. Like I said, it’s all about intent and doing things respectfully. One straight person in a group of gay friends just feels very different than a group of straight people inviting other random straight people, you know? Like, if one of them had brought an average height friend or family member to an LP convention, that would be very different than a group of average sized people without a little person deciding to go just because it would be fun. Marginalized communities deserve their own spaces where they aren’t at risk of being outnumbered or treated as a spectacle.