The Gay Lifestyle part 2

Continuation of The Gay Lifestyle.

So, we arrived at the club. From the outside it was pretty spartan, (pun intended). The entrance was a single door on the corner of a nondescript city block. Beside the glass door, a relatively small sign stated the club’s name. I’ve seen straight clubs with similar low-key outside appearances. And just like a straight club, I could hear the muffled beat of the music from well outside the door.

We went inside. Boom! The music was bouncing — the same music I liked to dance to elsewhere. But holy crap, the entrance price was twice what I had ever paid to get in anywhere else. Wow, the gay lifestyle must be pretty damn expensive. One more reason for me to stay straight.

On the inside, the club looked like most any other nice (not a dive) club I’d ever been to (maybe half a dozen by then), or have been to since (maybe two dozen). It looked well kept up, though worn. It was pretty crowded compared to other clubs I’d been to. The place wasn’t particularly small; it just seemed that all of the city’s gays and lesbians must have been in that one club that night. (Maybe this was the city’s one and only GL club.)

The people looked just like people in my normal hangouts. In fact, at first glance, nothing looked gay or lesbian about the clientele. Guys standing around talking with other guys. Ladies standing around talking with other ladies. Some mixed gender conversations. Just like in a normal night club.

On the raised dance floor, guys danced with guys, and girls danced with girls. Oh, there’s the difference. There was no mixed gender dancing.

Hmmm, I thought, I guess I won’t be dancing tonight. I ain’t gonna dance with a man.

My friend and one of the sisters went to the bar to get drinks. I stood in the crowd with the straight sister and looked around at all the people. What struck me the most about the crowd, (even more than seeing men dancing with men, and women dancing with women), was how completely non-gay/lesbian everyone looked. I didn’t see a single stereotype.

There were handsome men, beautiful women, dorks, tramps, winners, and losers all around me, but not a single “queer” or “dike.” I saw a couple of guys and girls that I had seen elsewhen in the world, and my first thought was, Wow, they’re gay?

Then I immediately thought, If they notice me, here, in a gay and lesbian bar, they’ll think I’m gay. That thought discombobulated me for a minute. I mean, I didn’t think any less of them for being gay/lesbian, and surely they wouldn’t think poorly of me for being gay — but I’m NOT gay!

Continued: The Gay Lifestyle part 3

Bullgrit