Queer PDAs
Frequent contributor Adam Isn't Here found the above video clip from a recent 20/20 segment about public reactions to queer public displays of affection. It's long, but really great. Though I have to wonder what the reactions would have been if the couples making out looked less like supermodels and more like real people.
My boyfriend and I have had a few crazy or fun reactions to us making out in public. I share a few below the fold.
Scene 1: I'm getting the Mini Cooper Flexcar ready to drive my brother and his new wife to from the wedding reception to the ferry port. The car is temporarily parked outside the main entrance of a multi-story restaurant on the shore of the New Jersey side of the Hudson. I'm wearing a tux. My boyfriend comes out to wait with me, looking really sharp in a two-piece suit. There is a steady stream of people coming in and out of the restaurant, plus a few people smoking or waiting for the valet to bring them their cars. The boyfriend and I start making out while leaning against the red Mini with the top down. A gaggle of drunk girls are standing on the other side of the car. One of them slams her hands on the car and screams, drunkenly, "I LOVE IT!"
Scene 2: My boyfriend and I are walking down 18th Street in between Lauriol Plaza and Rosemary's Thyme holding hands. A group of three pre-teen kids are walking towards us and looking shocked as they realize that we are two grown men were showing affection in public. One says to the other, masked by her hand but far from whispering, "They're gay!" My boyfriend turns to look back at them and says, "We can hear you." They continue to chatter about us, and he yells again, "We can STILL hear you!"
Scene 3: Rehoboth Beach, August 2005. My boyfriend and I are lying on the beach while a group of bear-ish guys are playing volleyball nearby. Mid-way through a nice, passionate make-out session, the guys starts yelling funny things to each other about us, including "How'd you miss that shot? You weren't even watching those cute guys making out!" We try to ignore them and keep going, but it is just too funny and we start laughing.
Our experiences haven't been totally negative, thankfully. But we are also careful to not be careless with our affection in unsafe places.
What sorts of comments have you received? Or do you think PDAs are inappropriate regardless of the genders of the participants?
5 Comments:
Once at a party, with a good mix of straight and gay, me and the husband started making out, because I was so bored and thought it would be funny.
One guy we didn't know, was surprised we were gay, and told us, he thought we were the straightest guys at the party.
After that, he couldn't keep his eyes off us, even though we weren't making out anymore.
Let that be a lesson. If your parties are boring me, I'm gonna come up with something to keep me entertained!
i am thankful that the most offensive comments made to me while being affectionate with my current gf or any of my exes has been of the objectifying straight male variety, and while those are certainly irksome, i can imagine much worse.
have also received the more positive kind such as "you two are so cute together."
once, an idiot asked if we were "sisters." (i guess he figured us for the incestual type).
good post and interesting clip.
This one doesn't even involve a PDA--once my date and I were walking down the street at night, not even holding hands or anything, when two straight guys walked by in the opposite direction. One of them said sarcastically, "You guys make such a cute couple." As I 1) have a tendency to be rather naive, and 2) had a few drinks in me, I thought he was sincere, so I smiled genuinely and thanked him! It wasn't until after they were out of earshot that the guy I was with told me they weren't being serious, and I was rather disappointed.
Hey Zack did you Facebook the August 2005 ex?
sorry for the long comment, but did y'all hear this BS re:PDAs in schools?:
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Angry parents have asked Memphis' Board of Education to take action against a principal accused of publicly identifying two male students as gay.
A letter from the American Civil Liberties Union that was made public last week accuses staff at Hollis F. Price Middle College High School of compiling a list of dating students, including a gay couple, as part of an attempt to limit public displays of affection on campus. The letter says the list was kept in the principal's office.
Parent Elizabeth Goodman told board members at their Monday meeting that exposing students as gay would make them objects of discrimination.
In a statement released last week, the district expressed its support for principal Daphne Beasley, saying the sexual orientation of students was not placed on the list of couples.
http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2008/05/06/94995tngaystudents_ap.html
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