So this weekend I’m at this journalism conference in Atlanta. At this party Saturday night, this guy approaches me, says he’d seen me at prior conferences. “Print or TV,” he says. “Print.” “You should be in TV,” he says. Thanks.
I think he’s trying to hit on me, and my suspicion is confirmed a little while later, when I run into him on the way to my hotel and we exchange pleasantries. We shake hands tonight, and I guess I didn’t give him the secret gay handshake. He pulls his hand back, says, “OH! You’re straight, aren’t you,” and runs away giggling.
This wouldn’t be all that remarkable, except that last night I’m at this open-bar party at Bed with Jon. It’s this fairly extravagant nightclub with plenty of beds to lounge on. As the party winds down, one of the beds opens up and I suggest we snag it. So I’m sitting there on this real comfy bed with Jon. Then he goes to get a drink and some guy pounces on the bed. “Do you have the time?” I give it to him, but he’s still there, asking another question and pointing out the pretty girls he’s sitting with on the next bed. Weird.
Then awhile later he comes up to me again. “Are you straight?” “Yes definitely definitely definitely.” “Oh. Then they win the bet,” he says, gesturing back to his female friends.
Apparently this girl Jon was talking to also thought we were gay, and had been making out on the bed. Weird … we weren’t even sitting that close together! Maybe sitting on beds at Bed should be added to the list of things men can’t do together lest people think they’re gay, just like eating fancy dinners and going to museums together.
update: S. reminds me that she briefly thought I was gay when we first met, “not because [I] seem gay”but because I’m “pretty.”
first fat women; now bad (supposedly) gaydar: nobody knows the trouble you’ve seen…..
Sitting on a bed with a guy does in fact imply gayness. Did you get the number of the two chicks who thought you were straight?
no.
Derek: Can I make a suggestion about your comments? My OPINION is that automatically/forcefully being logged in anonymously may turn some people off from commenting or even reading your comments.
Sure, people can type/paste in all their relevant information into the comment field itself, but that’s extra work (I for one am lazy) + I think people often forget.
It also places a limit on interactivity: I’m looking above and seeing two anonymous people and I’d like to know who they are. Comments serve you but they are also a place for your commenters to interact.
Just some thoughts Derek. Please know they are provided in the spirit of constructiveness.
I understand this may be a spam defense tactic but there are other ways of handling spam?
🙂 Mark from A Passion for Running
[…] o; carnival up and running anonymous comments Mark makes a point here about anonymous comments, that they’re a bit of a turn-off. “It … places a lim […]
D, if I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times: it’s the male-male handholding that makes you look gay. Cut that out and you’ll have pretties all over you. 😉
I like your blog!
The only thing that might have made you look gay was going to a ar called Bed with another guy and sitting on the same bed with him. Other than that, you were probably all good.