Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions that straight people have about gays is that “coming out” is a one time event, or at least that the number of times you come out is finite. The reality is, we are always coming out to people, sometimes directly to people we just met, sometimes indirectly to people we don’t know at all (like wearing a red shirt at Magic Kingdom this weekend). Since moving to Florida, I have generally had no problem communicating my sexual orientation to others, generally figuring anyone who couldn’t accept and respect me is not someone I want to associate with. But I have been hesitant to come out at work, especially after hearing quite a few homophobic and heterosexist comments at work at Gay Days last year. My department is not as “gay” as people usually think Disney to be, and there is a wide array of people who work there, so I was never sure how anyone would react. Today, I took a risk, not only in coming to the park with my red shirt and rainbow Mickey pin, but also by going backstage to my location (I had a legit reason: I needed to talk to the manager) and being right in front of everyone there. And while there were some surprised faces, I did not have a single negative reaction. And I guess, why would I have? Those people who I’ve worked with respect me for the hard worker I am, not who I like. And by seeing that sort of internalization, I can continue to self-internalize my sexual orientation, and so, in the words of the great Walt Disney, I can “keep moving forward, [and] opening new doors.”
Archive for the ‘Gay Stuff’ Category
So today (as in before midnight) was the second day of Gay Days this year, and I have spent much of my time, so far, tabling at the Gay Days Expo for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Student Union at UCF. It has really been a lot of fun. The atmosphere is amazing and it’s nice to see so many people who you can relate to. I guess it’s like safety in numbers. The weirdest thing, though, is that I’ve been seeing a lot of people around the host hotel who I could swear I’ve seen before. Maybe they go to UCF or… I don’t know?
Tonight was also the official Welcome Party, which was put together by GLBSU (with a lot of help). Jesse Brune, from “Workout” on Bravo was the host; I have only seen the show once, so I didn’t really know Jesse too well, but he certainly seemed like a very cool guy in person. The party was okay–it was a success, but did not quite live up to my expectations. It is, nonetheless, a huge accomplishment and a great learning experience for next year. The party was also beneficial in at least one other way: re-instilling me with hope that “some day my prince will come.” Okay, “prince” is probably moving a little fast, but yes, I met a guy (a friend of a friend) who I find fairly attractive, even though he isn’t my usual type at all. And even though age is something I usually find pretty important, I have decided to not care this time–I don’t know how old he is, and I don’t care. So we’ll see where that goes.
Tomorrow, well, later today is the big Gay Day at the Magic Kingdom. I am pretty excited for it, even if I am going to be dead tired. The only thing is, I have a ton of laundry I need to do so that I can pack for my flight Sunday morning. It’s going to be hectic; I might not get any sleep until I’m on the plane, but oh well. I have a week and a half in Erie coming up and I’m really looking forward to a few things: Saras (a dinor, and yes, it’s spelled -or), Smith’s hot dogs, pepperoni balls, Sontheimer’s Bakery, and of course TIM HORTON’s (the Canadian equivalent of Dunkin Donuts, except way better). It should be so exciting!