Hi, I will be darned! Yesterday at church I met the most puzzling guy. Now I am not a church goer but this church has a large LGBT population and I attend for the coffee hour and socialize with other gays outside the bar scene. So this single guy (~35) approached me to talk about church membership. He is soft spoken but a social activist. He gave a talk during Pride month about gay rights amongst other issues. We talked at length about the church and my pet issue a Pride center in the community which he fully supported. Eventually I asked him how he, a straight guy, became involved in gay rights as I have never met a straight person interested in the nitty-gritty of being gay and how society affects a gay person beyond the usual PC boundaries of hetero "I support equal rights for everybody" (not in my backyard - which is the rule - after which they quickly change topics). I told him he was the first straight person I ever met who aggressively wants to understand gay social justice issues and the emotions of gays. It was so "gay" of him. It was like talking to a gay person! You know the openness and acceptance you get with a gay person, he had it. He was surprised by that. (???) Man, if only there were many, many more of him. It was really refreshing. Anybody else run into this type of straight folk? Very refreshing.
Not sure I've had that sort of talk. Then, again, I'm not openly gay at this time... I think the people at the PFLAG group I've attended a time or two seemed to be quite gay friendly, and were very concerned about social issues. Both meetings had some talk about same sex marriage. But...the straights there have family, and I think that probably makes a huge difference in forcing people to become more open minded. It was neat hearing one woman talk about wishing her gay child would hurry up find that special someone...and not a word about wishing that the child would suddenly turn straight.
He was an interesting fellow. I am a few decades past 20 and passed as straight for most of them. In all those years never met a straight soul pushing gay rights simply because they thought it was the correct thing while being totally disconnected from the gay community. He was a puzzling, soul and very welcome to my experience. World needs more like him.
Well, you never know who his influence would have been. That's why it's important that we carry ourselves with dignity at all times.. we play a HUGE role in the public perception of what it means to be gay. And I shock people all the time because I'm seemingly straight and they never thought having a gay male friend could be.... cool. So he could have a close gay relative, friend, acquaintance.. someone likely put the seed there and it's blossoming beautifully.
I am a member of PFLAG and attend regular meetings. Our chapter is about 30% lgbt but the rest is straight. The straights are very interested in gay rights as most if not all of them have gay family members or friends that they are supporting.
Yes. Such folks can be anywhere, but in big metro areas, it's not that uncommon. I think it comes from having friends and family members who are GLBT, for the most part, or having been moved by seeing something that was really socially unjust.
I would say in the community I live in its not uncommon at all. At our pride festival, there were quite a few straight allies. Here's a local example (and no, I'm not in this picture or a member of this parish!) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...8361852.101175.314810765196729&type=1&theater
Yup. I've met people like that. I have this one friend that I always tease for being gayer than I am. I think it's because her uncle is gay, so her family is very pro LGBT.
A friend of mine introduced me to his girlfriend who completely on her own, without knowing my sexuality, brought up volunteering at a local LGBT shelter and would I be willing to get involved It was amazing
It's a lot like the white people who supported civil rights before that was a popular issue. There are just some people who realize there is injustice and bigotry in the world, and they take a personal commitment to end it.
