Stories from a man who fails to meet media expectations of what it means to be gay:
white, frivolous, over sexed yet sexless, shrill, single, stylish, a clown, unimportant, et al.

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Boy Stories (Part Two)

One:
From middle school until he left high school, Michael was called Fag at least once a school day. He was threatened or harassed at least once a week, and was beaten up several times. He always laughs when people talk about high school being the best time of their lives.

Two:
Gerry was part of the swim team in high school. When he joined, he thought that his father would finally be proud of him. He was wrong. His father was embarrassed that his only son was splashing around practically naked in public. There were many arguments over how a real sport involved blood, sweat, and protective gear.

Three:
Miguel left his parents house and moved in with his Tia Esperanza when he was seventeen. The argument with his parents that proved to be the final straw for everyone concerned went from anger, with his father yelling that no son of his was going to be a dammed Maricon; to fear, with his mother pleading with him to change before he got AIDS; to the bizarre, with his mother berating herself for not hitting him as a small child whenever he used his left hand instead of his right, as her grandmother had warned her to.

Four:
When he graduated from high school, Mitch was valedictorian, and class president, and on the tennis team, and a member of his school�s academic decathlon team, and on the debate club, and a writer on the school newspaper, and an eagle scout, and had a part time job, and had a girlfriend, and was voted most likely to succeed, and had gotten acceptance letters for two different prestigious universities. He dropped out of college early the next year, because he couldn�t keep up with the pressure of trying to be �normal.�

Five:
Phuc came out to his older sister when he was sixteen and asked her for advise about coming out to their parents since they tended to be very traditional whenever it suited them. She reminded him that while their father rarely talked about his only son, their mother had a tendency to go on at length about how her future daughter-in-law was going to be a lucky woman because Phuc was such a good cook, and so well mannered, clean and polite. In other words, she was clueless. Because of this, his sister suggested that he continue lying to his parents until he was financially independent of them.

Six:
In high school Lou was overweight, brainy, and part of the D&D playing nerd clique that would hang around the library during lunch. The nerd clique wasn�t very popular, but at his Midwestern school, it was a step above the Goth crowd that would hang out by the back entrance to the auditorium across the hallway from the library. While his friends made fun of the Goth boys for wearing make up, Lou was envious of how brave they were, not afraid if the other kids thought they were gay.

Seven:
Victor became very religious in high school. Hearing over and over again how he was dammed for his feelings regarding other boys was difficult, but it made for an easy excuse to tell his friends why he didn�t, couldn�t, go all the way with the girls he dutifully dated.

Eight:
His father threw him out of the house when he caught Carl and another boy �messing around� in the tool shed out back one warm Saturday afternoon. He moved in with his grandmother, and spent much of his time getting high. When he turned 18, she suggested that it was time for him to grow up and find a place of his own, so he left for the city.

Nine:
When Sam came out to his parents his first year of college, they told him that they had no idea that he was gay, so he reminded them that he never had a girlfriend. His mother's answer to that was that he went to his High School prom with a girl so why should she think he was anything but normal? He let the choice of the word normal go by without comment, and also didn�t bother to mention that his prom date was a lesbian friend of his from a queer youth support group.

Ten:
Gary had an unremarkable time in high school. His grades were neither great nor bad. He participated in a few clubs, went to school dances, helped paint the set for the school�s production of Guys and Dolls, went to football and basketball games, and had several friends. Coming out to his parents when he turned 18 was nerve racking, but after some initial crying, they told him they loved him and overall, nothing changed in his life.

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