As a gay dude, you may be surprised to perceive that one of the biggest hurdles I faced was going into a gay bar for the first time.
At 17-years-old, I was in awe of my straight mates. They’d been wandering into bars and nightclubs for the last year with the only threat of getting asked for age identification.
At 17 years ancient, my straight mates were not only getting drunk most Friday and Saturday nights but were boasting about sleeping around with members of the other side sex without any worry. Whether they’d slept with many of those they mentioned was reveal to debate.
At 17 years old, it was against the law for me to sleep with a person of the same sex. If I boasted about it, I could get myself into trouble. The law stated that, for my security, sex remained on hold until I reached 21.
Of course, I overlooked that particular part of the law. Love any red-blooded male at 17, my hormones made my brain think of little else but wanting to (putting it mildly) obtain laid.
By the period I reached my 19th birthday, I already had what I had considered a boyfriend. He was over the age of 21 and thought I was too.
On one particular, wet Saturday evening, I establish myself sitting i
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From Peer Pressure & Unhealthy Habits to Pride & Self Love: How One Gay Man Turned His Life Around.
Reckon True Stories, Episode 2: Roxane Gay
By Ursa Editors
Dear friends,
This week on Reckon Real Stories, Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon welcome the incredible Roxane Gay!
Listen in your favorite podcast app, and be sure to follow the show so you never miss an episode:
“We bring our whole lives, our whole selves, our whole communities to the page, and I want to create cosmos for that reality in my work, and I want to make sure that other writers own access to that territory, because so often we’re told to section off ourselves.”
Get the full exhibit notes and reading list over at Reckon.
Deesha and Kiese in Vanity Fair
Thanks to everyone who has listened, shared, and reviewed Reckon True Stories so far — the response has been overwhelming. Deesha and Kiese spoke with Arimeta Diop at Vanity Fair about their goals for the show and some of their favorite moments:
Philyaw: “I didn’t comprehend Kiese when I was reading Heavy. I was like, here’s this guy who feels like I feel and he’s doing this thing anyway, and I was just in awe of that. And so being able to talk about that with Kiese was really a transformative moment for me.”
Join Us Thursd
When we were growing up there were few (if any) lgbtq+ love stories around for us to be exposed to, whether in real life, on TV, or anywhere else in the media.
We would have absolutely loved to have been able to learn that gay love stories do exist and that queer relationships and gay romance could be real, true and loving.
That’s why in this blog announce we wanted to share some real-life gay love stories from some of our followers on Instagram in the hope that we can spread the word that love really is for all. [no_toc]
Real Life Gay Affection Stories
Branden and Stephen
Our first male lover love story is from Branden and Stephen:
‘It was 2009, Branden was in the closet, looking to find a relationship on an online dating site; Stephen, also seeking a relationship replied.
We talked online for several days, then we finally made the leap to meet in person.
Our first date was at a local brewery where we talked for hours and played pool. We hit it off immediately, both growing up in the rural parts of Alberta and this being our first lgbtq+ relationship, we had so much in common.
Fast forward a month and we became “official” boyfriends. We were head over hee