Ok i have greatly neglected this blog so apologies so lets get back to it!First i want to start back on a slightly different tone than my other posts, but rest assured my self proclaimed light hearted take on modern gay life. (if any readers have any recommendations dont forget to send me a message)
Now i have a slightly ulterior motive for starting this blog off again! i have just watched the documentary "i woke up gay" a bbc documentary shown on bbc 2 available on iplayer for the next week. The documentary follows a man who lives in a rural Welsh valley town who after suffering a stroke as a result of a head injury found himself to be gay!
He believes that it was the stroke that fundamentally changed his brain causing him to become gay, this has raised a number of conversations amongst my friends, i wont focus on the petty quibbles ive read online from people critical of his appearance! He does now very much resemble a certain type with his bleached hair and long fringe.
Now the two main thought processes i have had since watching this documentary is what "type" of gays do you get and why and the repercussions of what might happen if a genetic discovery of what causes homosexuality might be.
1: Types: ok now this is a much debatable discussion, you get camp guys, you get butch guys, leather guys and sporty guys all gay, But what i am mostly looking at in relation to this documentary is this rural guy who most likely didn't have any gay friends or contact with a variety of different gay people before the incident. To see that being gay is just as much about being yourself and finding a fit for yourself, be that a rocker, a bear or any of the above. The "camp" bright haired, TOPMAN kitted gay guy is however in my opinion one of the most prevalent in the media, he is safe as he is obvious, a neon sign above his head telling straight guys he is no risk to them or their girlfriends, They are also from my experience far more common in a provincial environment. Now i know being in London colours me to this there is a large and somewhat varied gay scene with different bars styled and catering for different subcultures so it is not a random free for all like there is in a one gay bar type town. Now i live just outside London so before i went out in London and grew my beard and felt i fitted in, I was also a bleached blonde haired gay boy who went to the local gay bar! i also spent three years in South Wales where this type was the stereotype, the university LGBT was made up of guys like this two a penny, So i wonder what is it that makes this type so prevalent, is it an armor of being obvious where acceptance is maybe not as welcoming is being camper and more feminine a way to find acceptance by fitting to peoples somewhat narrow minded view of what being gay should be?
Genetics: Now the second part in which the documentary focused on is whether he was gay before, or if the stroke made him gay, i have wondered myself for years as to how long i was gay, I knew from a reasonably young age which i know is different from alot of people. Now i will say that in my opinion it was not Kylie Minogue, my Mums liking of George Michael or my prepubescent liking for wearing my mums suede boots and my sisters swimming costume and accosting my neighbours yelling at the top of my lungs "for the honour of grayskull i am SHE-RA" I was also greatly obsessed by he-mans furry pants, my Robbie Williams poster and the male models in the freeman's catalogue, Now i was lucky that i was introduced to two "uncles" who were in a long term committed relationship to see that being gay was just as normal as anything else. But it was not until my early teens that i learnt what being gay meant and everything just fell into place it was like putting a name to a face. So i strongly believe that being gay is genetic rather than mental.
Now this is what concerns me that if it was a common belief that it is a mental choice! that if people choose to be gay?? and the possibly repercussions that could cause. If people believe it was a choice to be gay it would give strong support to gay conversion therapy, and then what CBT to cure it? Medication for a neurological condition? how much further will conversion therapies go? i believe if maybe somewhat slightly paranoid way that it is naive to think that the tide of acceptance may not always continue to flow in our favor, and this feeling of mentality i feel would lead to much greater dangers!
I feel in my opinion that he was always gay and that the stroke maybe lowered his inhibitions which is common in stroke victims which resulted in his willingness to come out or the possible near death experience made him revaluate his life and gave him the courage to come out, I also feel that as evident in the documentary with his mums lack of contact with him shows that he was maybe not from the most accepting of families or areas and so buried his homosexuality so deep that it no longer bothered him, i also feel that being from a backround like his it was maybe easier for him to "hide" behind the stroke with it acting as a catalyst for his coming out.. Using it as a platform and claiming his homosexuality to be something out of his control and not his choice, making him a victim of circumstance. which maybe he thought would ensure better acceptance from his family and friends?
I dont know... but thats it for today i will be back to my usual commentary on DJs, muscles and vests soon enough.
Chris x
