Out at the Prom
Newsweek (seemingly teamed with MSNBC) had this article on same-sex dates at prom.
Let me tell you -- 12 years ago, in my high school, interracial couples couldn't go to prom without facing expulsion, not only from the prom, but from school as well. I shudder to think what would happen if two guys or two girls decided to go together as more than friends.
Junior year, our two female foreign exchange students went to prom together... most everyone dismissed it as "eh, they're foreign", but there was some question as to the Spanish girl's orientation. Most people didn't like her, and she never dated, so it was a way for both to go to prom and not feel left out.
Senior year, my classmate, Nichole, brought her friend Tara. Nichole wasn't exactly the most attractive girl back then (think Robert Smith from the Cure, and, no offense to Nichole, add a few pounds). People dismissed it, since everyone knew Nichole wasn't a lesbian, and she was known for being a big troublemaker.
Last time I went to the high school for a basketball game, when I was in college back home, I heard a LOT of kids talking about either being gay or bi. Don't ask me why, but I was in earshot, so I heard it. And, surprisingly, for being a totally rural small town, they sounded ok with everything.
I'd write more, but I'm back to doing reports for the boss's boss's boss.
Comments
After I came out and started "going out" I was amazed as to how many people I'd bump into from my High School. "Oh wow, he was gay? She was lesbian?" I had no idea, just as they'd no idea about me. From a tiny speck of a town not even on a map they were everywhere. And most people back home would talk of them as if they didn't care finding out. But while in High School... why is it that's always a different story?
Posted by: jay | June 12, 2003 8:43 AM
I count many many many gays and lesbians from my high school days... I've run into several since moving here to the "big city", and even more have come out to me, not knowing that I was.
One in ten sounds about right, and those are the ones who didnt drop off the face of the earth.
Small towns... sometimes you swear it's in the water.
Posted by: Gigamatt | June 12, 2003 10:26 AM
Er, that made it sound like I knew they were gay in high school.. quite the opposite. It's weird to have them either come out to you, or run into them in a bar. Or find out someone you just met used to date one of them.
Scary. Really.
Posted by: Gigamatt | June 12, 2003 10:28 AM
Things sure must have changed. I can't imagine gay/lesbian kids going to the prom together at my high school. People freaked out when the guy I went to prom with was in his 30s! (Chill out, a good friend of mine never went to prom, so we went together, even though it was 18 years late for him!)
Posted by: :: jozjozjoz :: | June 15, 2003 9:37 PM