Subject: Re: str8-acting fags and real men
Date: 27 Apr 1996 02:26:40 GMT

>Sure, Jodie was gay, and something between him and another man was
>alluded to early on (I don't remember bedroom scenes like those between
>straight characters), but in general he seemed to be gay simply because
>that's what he said he was.  And not following the storyline too closely,
>lo and behold, he started dating a woman and they had a kid.  The
>implication to this viewer who felt confused more than anything at the
>time was that being gay wasn't necessarily a permanent thing.

Speaking of confusion, how about the caricature presented by
Stephen Carrington, the gay son of oil barron Blake Carrington
in the popular prime time soap opera Dynasty?

As a youth growing up in the 70's, Dynasty was one of my main
sources of information on what it meant to be gay (which is
very sad now that I think about it).  I remember secretly
wanting to watch every episode of Dynasty simply because it
had a gay character and I was fascinated that there could
actually be people who identified themselves as being gay.
(At that point in my life all I knew was that being called a
"fag" was like the greatest insult there was.)  What I saw
when I watched Dynasty, though, was a man who was the
black sheep of his family; misunderstood and despised by his
father; ridiculed and harrassed by his coworkers; looked down
on by his peers; unable to find love, happiness or fulfillment
in a relationship; had one of his lovers killed by his father;
and finally decided that he wasn't sure he was really gay and
married a woman.

Well, needless to say, with a role model like that, my
emotional and sexual development was pretty much stunted at
that point.  After that I swore to myself that I would never
be gay and that any gay feelings I had were just a "phase" 
that I would eventually outgrow.  It was not until my Junior
year in college that I finally found the strength to come out
to myself and to my family.

Sad, but true ...