Straight Guys Shock Me With Their Homo-Friendliness

[Placebo]

So yesterday in my Screenwriting Class it was time to get feedback from our peers about our script treatments. Our teacher sectioned us off into groups of 5 and I had prayed that I'd get at least one girl in my group but, no, I was stuck with 4 (definitely) straight college guys.

I was really nervous because their ideas all centered around quasi-teenage tumultuous love stories between guys and girls, or action packed shoot-em up stories, and my script centered round gay themes and characters.

When it came time for me to share my idea for feedback I was more freaked out than ever, and so I just spit it out as fast as I could without even looking at them for a reaction. When I was done, to my incredible surprise, they weren't laughing, they weren't making strange faces, they were just nodding like they actually "got it". They actually gave me real substantive feedback, and it was kind of funny to hear these guys saying things like "So maybe Alan could really be in love with Jonathan? That would make it so much cooler!" and getting all excited about it.

Anyway, maybe there is hope for us after all. :D

[ret5hd]

1. we arent all homophobes

and i say that as a straight guy.

[chicagojoe]

3. I'll second that.

[Seabiscuit]

25. I'll third it.

A gay person can't help being gay any more than someone who likes creme brulee can deny their tasetbuds. What pisses me off is the right-wingers who will stoop as low as you can go to deny gay people their civil rights. As a lawyer, I can say ALL people deserve the same legal rights and protection. Including Iraqis under international law. And that means gay people should enjoy all the benefits of marriage under the law. Discrimination is illegal in this country, yet the right wing politicians (and some DINO dems), pandering to their fundie contributors have sold their souls out.

Yes, I'm straight and always have been. No matter. Gay or straight I'd say the same things.

[A HERETIC I AM]

37. Straight but not narrow

There is a comedian whose name escapes me who does a bit on how all men have a bit of a gay sensibility. In order to prove his point he tells a story where he asks a guy if he likes porn. Answer; Yes! Do you like it when it is a guy doing a girl? Yes! Do you like to see a guy with a small penis or a really big one? A big one! See There you go!

[Stop_the_War]

2. wow

you're lucky to have tolerant people around you.

[mark414]

5. it's sad

that that has to even be said

[enigmatic]

16. Thirded

I know this is the cliche of cliches, but one of my closest friends is gay, and he's like a brother to me.

[ashling]

28. My little brother was gay

and he was like a friend to me .

He died in 1998. AIDS. I miss him.

[LynzM]

4. That's really cool

Sometimes, people surprise you when you open up. I had that experience today with sharing something on another message board I wasn't sure about sharing. Too my surprise, most of the comments were positive or at least not negative. I'm really glad that it went well with your group and you got good feedback! :)

[fishwax]

6. that's cool

results might be slightly skewed in a screenwriting class (or not, I don't know), but even so I'm glad that experience was positive. I think there's hope for us :)

[Hobarticus]

7. That is good news!

When people get together, face-to-face, and learn that other people from different races, identities, religions, etc. are indeed human and not the 'boogeymen' that they've been led to believe they are, then things can work out.

The GOP doesn't want us to know that, but there it is.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. YAY! It IS nice to be surprised like that, isn't it?

And good that they could forgo their false masculinity (which I assume they probably don't have anyway) and help you write a story about two guys in love.

Woo hoo!!

[Melodybe]

9. Meterosexual men are straight but fine with homosexuals

My sister's friend Zack was worried that he would be tormented in his dorm. Zack is a very ardorable, well dressed homosexual, that would definately be vulnerable if someone straight guy decided to kick his ass.

Since he goes to a College in the deep south, he has reason to worry.

However Zack is the girl problem go to guy in his dorm. The straight boys love him, have defended him, hang out with him, and always ask him about all of their girl troubles.

The world is changing, in this case for the better.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

10. Things have changed in twenty years

I had a hom-screenplay in a screenwriting class twenty years ago and I got pilloried by the straight guys in the class not on the merits of the script, but for its gayness. One of the main reasons I got out of film. I remember the one asshole 'Why can't it be about a guy and a girl?" yes, I'm still angry. It was a distraction I did not need in an already difficult part of my life
So, GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
:yourock:

[Crankie Avalon]

11. Well, it IS a screenwriting class...

...and maybe young men interested enough in writing and creativity to be part of such a class are going to have a different attitude from the stereotypical young male you might find in a sports bar drinking watery beer with his frat brothers.

I'm glad you're having a good classroom experience.

[cestpaspossible]

32. That was my first thought

I have the feeling that homophobia and a career in screenwriting probably don't mix too well.

[BiggJawn]

38. Really....

I think the possibility of finding some really "pig shit on the boots, faggot-killin' Gudoleboyz" in screenwriting class would be just about nil.

We're not ALL out to beat you senseless.

[XNASA]

12. All guys are gay.......

Sheeshhh....everyone knows that. :eyes: ;-)

Or like Homer J. Simpson said after Marge told him that his new best friend John (Waters) "Prefers the company of other men."....

"Well WHO doesn't?!"

[JohnKleeb]

13. We ain't all so bad even us southern ones

Hell I am so absentminded, I cant even tell most of the time.

[Placebo]

14. You're not southern, Kleeb, you're from Massachusetts.

:P

[CubsFan1982]

15. He's never going to live that one down!

:D

[LDS Jock]

29. Kleeb is a yankee?

I didn't know that! Imposter this whole time.

[Borgnine]

17. I think those of us who are most comfortable with our straightness...

...are the most "homo-friendly." After all, a lot of people feel that homophobes are afraid they're gay themselves.

But then again, I haven't had sex in so long, I might be considered non-sexual at this point.

[Placebo]

18. You're practically an amoeba.

Don't self-divide! Don't self-divide! :P

[realisticphish]

20. i hear that the shrub admin.

is pushing a "no self divide" only curriculum in single-cell division-ed classes. it'll make them grow cilia on their palms ;)


:hippie: THe Incorrigible Democrat

[Bouncy Ball]

19. When I was teaching eighth graders

(up until last year), there were several kids who were out (both gay and lesbian) and the other kids were TOTALLY fine with it.

One boy who was out was INCREDIBLY popular with both guys and girls. He was hilarious and very outspoken. Fransisco. Loved him to death. He made my day, every day. I had him first period and he'd come down the hallway like a king with this gaggle of girls around him. He'd run in, SLAM down his books, yell "Hi Mrs. Smith! You look pretty today!!" (ok yeah he got some brownie points here and there) and run out to "chat wit da ladies" as he put it.

Then there was the phenomenon of straight girls pretending to be lesbian because suddenly it was COOL to be lesbian. Yep. I'll never forget one girl storming in my room (she was out) saying "She's NOT a lesbiana. She's just trying to be ALL COOL. She's just a WANNA BE."

Coulda knocked me over with a feather.

[Neoma]

21. Lesbiana? hehehe

:D

[RagingInMiami]

23. So your last name is smith?

[Bouncy Ball]

35. Uh, yeah. That's it. Smith.

;-)

[RagingInMiami]

42. Nothing personal. It's just a joke

Cause I remember one time when you did not want to reveal your name for personal reasons. Let's hope your students are not reading DU.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

27. Girls in my school did that too

The grade below mine.

Only two of them were actually lesbians. The rest stopped pretending after about two months. It was interesting to walk around school and hear "Ashley dumped Katie for Victoria"... stuff like that.

[Bouncy Ball]

36. Exactly what I would hear!!!

[RagingInMiami]

22. well i'm a hetero male in a college creative writing class

and there have been gay themes in our stories, including a gay man in one of my stories. And that part has never been raised as an issue.
However, I do think writers are more liberal than the rest of the population

[SideshowScott]

24. I get along great with my Gay and Lez co-workers..Most of them..

ill be honest there is a couple of gay co-workers that i dont have a good working relationship with..Id dislike them no matter what so gay is not the issue..But the others are great people that I totaly have a great time working with and paling around with..I really think the people who have a real problem with it are people who have personal issues to deal with about it and cant..I could care less, if your gay your gay if your not your not it does not make anyone less of a person..

[baron j]

26. I was friends with a guy at a bookstore who thought I didn't know

he was gay. Yet, the first day, we all sat around and had to state who our favorite authors are. He said, "Poppy Z Brite," who writes gothic, homoerotic horror fiction. Most of her books involve gay relationships. She's even stated in interviews that she is . Later on, he was chatting with some of the women at the store about guys he thought were attractive, then noticed that he hadn't noticed that I was standing near by, and then quickly proceeded to hush up. I walked over and said, "it's okay to be out in front of me, I pretty much knew already." He answered, "Oh! Okay." After that, he was more and more himself around me, and seemed much friendlier and comfortable.

We are not all clueless, nor hardly all homophobes! ;)

[ashling]

30. I am sorry that that had to shock you

I am sorry that there are enough homophobic males out there that lead you to assume that your group would be like them.

[Enraged_Ape]

31. Newsflash for heterophobes: Most straight guys don't give a shit...

about the gender of a person someone else is banging. Why should they?

The only people who make a noise about this are people who are TERRIFIED that they might be gay themselves, for whatever reason--religious upbringing, peer pressure, etc. In which case, other gay people of the same gender are "forbidden fruit" to them.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Placebo]

41. You're so homo-friendly, GrovelBot!

Well...maybe you're not a hetero...do you even have genitalia? Or a brain? Who the hell knows, you're fab nonetheless.

[JI7]

34. i can't see many anti gay types taking a screenwriting class

[flvegan]

39. Some of us are even gay rights activists.

Wrong is wrong, regardless of who/what is the target of hate and discrimination

Hell, they're trying to alter the State Constitution here with an anti-gay marriage amendment. We've got a long year ahead of us. I swear the first guy/gal gathering signatures that hits me up for one is just gonna get it.

[bearfan454]

40. A lot of straight guys have no problem with gay people at all.

Me for one. My son is gay.