Survey Preview: Bi Guys Do Have More Fun

I have gotten a lot of support for the survey, and I have already learned a lot about bi guys from looking at the wide range of responses I got. I do not want to release the results yet, since I am still trying to get more representation for certain groups, but I did want to share one result that has made me really happy.

While I was thinking of questions for the survey, I asked Jay whether he would still pick to be bi if he could choose between bi, gay, or straight. Apparently, that was an easy question for him- he said he would definitely still want to be bi. I thought that would be his answer, but I also thought he would have to think about it a lot. After all, he has complained about the many trials and tribulations of being a bi male: women don’t want to date you because they think you’ll cheat with a man; men don’t want to date you because they think you’re gay and not ‘out’ yet; one of the doors on your car doesn’t unlock automatically any more (What? Bi men have to deal with this too. I mean, it’s not caused by their sexuality, but it’s still an issue…) Point being, I was pleasantly surprised that Jay was so certain he would still pick to be bi if he had the choice.

I asked him why, and he said, “Come on, it’s way more fun to be bi.” Can’t argue with that.

So, you can imagine that I was equally please when I looked at the survey results, and saw that so far the overwhelming majority of guys who participated  would still pick to be bi. How awesome is that? #worthit

Straight People Problems

Problem 1: These cupcakes were not made for you

It’s no secret that the LGBT community faces a lot of issues: discrimination, misunderstanding… deciding whose going to top. It got me thinking: what kind of problems do straight people have? Sure the world can be easier for straight people, but there must be downsides to being straight as well.

So I tried to come up with some. These are not all problems that I have personally faced. And these are not problems that are exclusively faced by straight people. But I think if you took this list around to a bunch of straight people, they would say, “Hey, yeah…that is a true!” I mean, lets face it, being LGTB looks pretty damn fun sometimes, and sometimes we straight people are left out in the metaphorical cold.

• Boring parties. Freshman year of college I was friends with all the gay dudes in my year. I went to every party they threw, and I will tell you, it got CRAZY. They had the best music, and the best dancing. They had leather parties, they had rainbow parties, they had parties where everyone was in camouflage printed underpants, and I wasn’t even sure why. Straight people parties are fine I guess… if you like 80s night over and over again. And it doesn’t end in college. When I was in San Francisco, I saw these posters for some event with burly dudes wearing no shirts (I think it was some ‘bears’ thing). That’s what gay adult men in San Francisco get invited to. Shirtless burly men events. #fun. #awesome. Meanwhile I’m getting invited to a charity auction where the main activity is a trivia contest about the companies that donated to the fundraiser. #thisisnotajoke

• Not realizing that you don’t have to have a baby. Take my parents for example. They probably should not have had kids (they were in no way prepared for how terrible I’d be). But since they were married and had a nice house, kids was just the next step on the straight people path. On the other hand, I think the idea of not having kids has at least occurred to most non-straight people.

• Not knowing what “queer” means. Seriously. Corner a straight person and ask them to define it. Fifty bucks says they get it at least a little bit wrong.

• Not being able to get a tattoo. I swear, this is a thing. A really good gay friend of mine got a tattoo. We were both in the same program at school, and both trying to enter relatively conservative fields. But he pointed out that since he was openly gay, he had already ruled out working for/with extremely conservative people. Therefore the tattoo wasn’t going to do any more damage. I, on the other hand, had to maintain a more uptight persona in the hopes of keeping all my career options open. Blessing and curse, I guess.

• Always knowing who’s going to ‘top’. Spoiler alert, it’s the guy. #Boring. Well, I guess it doesn’t HAVE to be the guy but…We straight people usually don’t get the fun of picking which role we want. And it’s just not fair. That seems like so much fun…

• Not being able to pronounce the word ‘dachshund’. This has nothing to do with being straight, I just happen to know that some straight people can’t pronounce this word. Me, for example.

• Straight Guilt. Think back on all those times in 6^th grade when you said, “That’s so gay!” Yeah. You’re an asshole.

• Wondering if maybe you’re not straight, but then having that voice in your head say, “Yeah, nice fuckin try”. Lets face it, most straight people have been at least a teeny tiny bit attracted to someone of the same sex, even if its only, “Oh, she looks really nice in that sweater.” But if that’s all it took to claw your way out of the straight box, then there would be no straight people. And this is when that voice in your head says, “And clearly there are straight people. And you’re one of them. Nice fuckin try.”

• Harder to have sex in a public restroom… probably. I have never attempted this, nor do I want to. But it seems like a same sex couple would have an easier time at least getting into the same restroom.

• Having to go to separate locations for candy and condoms. At my school they have this LGBTQ community center and I swear that place rocks. It’s so nice, it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. They have couches to lounge on, pamphlets magazines about LGBTQ issues to read, and postcards advertising upcoming events and parties. On the coffee table, they have this giant bowl of condoms right next to this giant bowl of candy. And it’s the good kind of candy, like snickers and mini crunch bars- the expensive stuff. For straight people, condoms are located at the health center, so you can be reminded of how shitty you are for not getting your flu shot yet. And candy is located at the vending machines. Enjoy not having enough quarters.

Straight Bro Drama at Chinese Hot Pot

In case you’re wondering, that’s Miss Lotus Blossom and Max (in his hobo sweatshirt) in the background.

As I’ve mentioned I have a lot of guy friends. First of all there is Max, who I’ve written about a couple times- and who now knows about this blog, so I can never say anything bad about him on it again… Hi Max. Sorry I called you a womanizer.

Who am I kidding. Max isn’t reading this. He doesn’t like to hear about my life when I’m telling him in person; there’s no way he’s reading about here.

Then there’s Stephen. Stephen is a good guy. You know how you know someone who’s really chill, and when someone else asks you about them, you say, “Oh yeah, he’s a good guy”? That’s what everyone says about Stephen. He’s just one of those people who’s nice, and funny, and a natural leader.

So Max and Stephen and I were hanging out and chatting, and we decided we should go to dinner. It was between Brazilian BBQ or Chinese hot pot, and I wanted hot pot, and I had a tantrum about it, so I got my way. (If you’ve never had Chinese hot pot… you should. It’s so good. I’ve literally tried to befriend random Chinese people in the hopes that they will go with me to hot pot).

I invited Jay, and Max invited his girlfriend, who will be referred to as Miss Lotus Blossom (because she’s beautiful and modeled in Asia before moving here… and also because I’ve called her this before, and I know Max hates it). We also invited another guy friend, Ray, so that Stephen wouldn’t feel like a 5^th wheel. Miss Lotus Blossom and I were technically diluting the bro-iness of the group, but between Max, Stephen, and Ray, I felt like it was going to be a pretty bro-y evening.

Stephen and I got there first, and fought to get the last two seats in the waiting area, since this, and pretty much every other hot pot place wont seat you until your whole damn party has arrived. They make you stand in line like it’s the fuckin XS Night Club of Asian food and you’re not on the list bitch… What am I talking about? Oh yeah, so Jay arrived next, and this is when the straight bro drama started. You may never have noticed, but guys say stuff that is mildly homophobic like… all the time. I don’t think they mean anything bad by it, and honestly I never noticed it before. Since I started dating Jay, however, I’ve been more aware of all the mildly homophobic things straight guys say without evening meaning to.

So Jay came in, and Stephen and I were sitting in the chairs, and I said to Jay, “I’d offer you my chair, but… I don’t want to.”

Stephen laughed, then said, “I’d offer you my chair, but a dude offering his chair to another dude seems kinda gay.”

Stephen laughed, and Jay laughed too. But for a second, I got super paranoid. I was worried Jay might be offended, or at least uncomfortable. I was also worried Stephen might keep going and say something worse; he doesn’t know Jay is bi, and, truthfully he has said some slightly offensive things about gay people in the past. I know, crucify me, I shouldn’t be friends with someone like that… But we all have our flaws, and Stephen’s is that he’s oblivious to the fact that some things he says might be offensive. It’s not like he’s going around looking for queers to beat up; he just makes offensive jokes sometimes when he thinks no gay people are around.

Stephen’s comment wasn’t that big of a deal. Jay didn’t seem to notice it, and I was the only one glancing around like a paranoid spaz, wondering if things were about to get awkward.

Max, Ray, and Miss Lotus Blossom arrived, and we all sat down. We ate our hot pot, and we talked about other restaurants we should try. I showed Jay the proper way to cook his vegetables. I got really mad when he started eating pieces of beef I had put in the pot. Miss Lotus Blossom told me that I was being too greedy and that in that most Asian cultures, everything that goes into the pot is considered communal. I told her to fuck off. (Just kidding. I have to be polite to her, otherwise she might use her beautiful voodoo to convince Max not to be friends with me).

As much as I was enjoying hoarding all the beef and watching Max get upset when Miss Lotus Blossom told him he was too white to use chopsticks properly, I couldn’t shake the paranoia that had set in earlier. With all the guys together, I spent the whole night worrying that someone might say something like “No-homo” or “that’s so gay”. I thought back to other times we had all hung out and tried to remember how often anti-gay comments were made. It was hard to tell because I had never bothered to keep track of those comments before.

There was another questionable incident when the check came; Max and Ray started Fake Gay-ing Out. Fake Gay-ing Out is that thing when two straight guys pretend to act gay because they think its funny. When I explain what they did, you’ll understand.

So the check came, and Max said he would be paying Ray’s share. Stephen asked why, and Max started to say Ray left his wallet somewhere, but then Ray interrupted and looked at Max and said, “It’s because I had a really nice time tonight,” in a fake sexy voice. Then they burst out laughing. Ray continued, laughing the whole time, “Didn’t you know this was a date? I always go on dates with Max.”

Again, everyone was laughing, and Stephen said, “Uh oh, does [Miss Lotus Blossom] know about this?” (Obviously he called her by her actual name.)

Miss Lotus Blossom rolled her eyes and said, “Of course. They are practically lovers.” She was referring to the fact that Max and Ray have an intense bromance.

The hilarity continued and people shouted comments like “It’s not cheating if its one of your bros!”

“But she’s cool with it, right?” Ray joked.

“Whatever,” Miss Lotus Blossom said.

Stephen was still laughing, and said, “How far can they go before you would be mad? Could they make out?”

“They almost do,” she said, shaking her head. “All their high five-ing and wrestling when they see each other.”

The worst part was, I was afraid someone might turn the conversation on me, and say something like “How about you, would you be mad if Jay made out with one of his bros?” And then I would freeze up and get all awkward, knowing that Max and Jay and I appreciate the significance of that question, but everyone else thinks its silliness. And then everyone would be wondering why we got all quiet, and they would suspect something was up… Luckily, I was just being paranoid, and none of that happened. They just laughed it off and paid the check.

I am not sure if any of this made Jay uncomfortable. Maybe he didn’t care, and maybe its weird that I think he would care. It made me a little uncomfortable because the whole time I was thinking, “I have wondered in seriousness how mad I would be if my boyfriend made out with another guy…” But to them, it was so absurd, that it was just joke. (The answer, if anyone is wondering is that I would be pretty ticked off if Jay made out with another guy and tried to hide it from me, but the anger would be more about the lying and hiding, not so much about the making out.)

For what its worth, Max didn’t contribute to the Fake Gaying Out. He’s the only one who knows about Jay, and that might be why. Or he may have just been in a prime beef and house noodles food coma.

Later, I asked Jay if Stuff like Stephen’s comment about the chairs makes him feel weird, and he said it does but only for like 30 seconds and then he forgets about it. I forgot to ask him about the Fake Gaying Out, but I probably should… What do you guys think? Offensive or not?

Awkward Holiday Parties

First of all I want to apologize for not posting anything in a while; truthfully, I’ve just been busy. But I will not abandon this blog, and I assure you I thought about it constantly even when I was too busy to update. Second of all, thank you for your support. I got a lot of comments and follows over the past few weeks, and I just wanted to say that it means a lot, and I am glad people can relate to this blog.

The holidays were a big part of why I was too busy to write, and even though they have been over for a couple weeks now, I still want to tell you about them. For one thing, they are important, and for another, interesting things happened. Interesting bi things.

To start the season off, Hanukkah happened, and since Jay’s step-dad is Jewish, they had a Hanukkah party, to which I was invited. I knew it would be polite to bring something, and after my brother and I raided my parents’ wine collection and realized we had no idea which wines were good, I decided a box of chocolates would be a better option.

I went to See’s Candy, and picked out an assorted box. I asked if they could gift wrap it, and it was only as I was leaving that I realized the wrapping paper was red and green and said “Merry Christmas.” I worried it might be annoying to show up to a Hanukkah party with a gift that so blatantly insisted upon the wider popularity of Christmas, so I asked if they could rewrap it in Hanukkah paper. I watched as the cashier peeled off the wrapping paper, and rewrapped it in plain white paper. Then, she reached below the counter and pulled out a single, large star of david sticker, and stuck it right on top of the box. It wasn’t gift wrap, so much as it was a label. “For Jews.” She slapped it on the way I picture things get stamped “USDA Approved” or “Contaminated” or “Contains Nuts.”

I showed the box to my brother, and he managed to peel the sticker off and place it over the tape on the back of the box, so at least it looked like it served a purpose other than announcing, “These chocolates are for Jews.” Crisis averted.

That part of the story has nothing to do with bisexuality, but it was funny so I wanted to tell it anyway.

Jay’s sexuality came up after I had arrived at the party and handed his parents the Jew Chocolates. He was showing me some decorations in the foyer, and he started telling me how last year, he was here with Bradley who ended up getting too drunk and falling asleep in the foyer. No one could find Bradley, and it ended up being quite a laugh when he was finally discovered, curled up on the couch, sleeping like a baby.

“Bradley…” I scoffed. I’ve met Bradley, and he’s actually really nice. But since he’s Jay’s ex, I always roll my eyes a little whenever Jay recounts the adorable things he used to do.

“After that he was too drunk to drive home, so I just helped him up to my room,” Jay explained.

“Hold on,” I interrupted. “Bradley slept in your room?”

“Yeah.”

“Like in your bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Like, with you also in the bed?”

“Yeah…”

“That is so unfair,” I announced. I am not supposed to sleep in Jay’s bed at his parent’s house. He has younger siblings, and his parents don’t think it sets a good example to let unmarried couples sleep in bed together. But somehow, for Bradley it was okay.

Jay sighed. “Dude, my parents thought we were just friends. They didn’t know we were… you know, fucking. My mom even asked me, just to make sure nothing was going on and I told her Bradley and I were just friends.”  (It’s worth mentioning that Jay’s mom knows he is bisexual, and that the idea that Jay might be fooling around with another guy was a very real possibility.)

I scowled. “Your mom asked you, ‘Hey Jay, just to make sure, you’re not taking it up the butt from the guy that’s sleeping in the foyer, are you?’?”

“Well, she didn’t say it like that, obviously.” Jay said. “She just asked if anything was going on with us, and I said no.”

“And she believed you? That you were just two guys friends? Two guy friends sleeping in bed together?” I asked. “Guy friends don’t sleep in bed together. Guys only sleep in bed with other guys if they are fucking.”

“I mean… maybe she suspected, but what was she really going to say?”

I had to admit, he had a point.

The bed thing is the main reason I don’t like going to Jay’s parents’ house.

I’ve waited a long time to get out of high school, and get my own place where I can tie up men with bondage tape without it being anyone else’s business (not that I do that; I’m just saying I could). It’s frustrating to visit parents and be forced back into that high school mentality; it’s extra frustrating to know that stupid Bradley didn’t have to follow the same rules.

But… I guess that’s one of the perks of having a same sex relationship; society’s rules don’t always catch you. It’s not inappropriate for people of the same gender to sleep in the same room because USUALLY they don’t screw. The fact that Bradley and Jay could sleep in the same room and screw means… they basically just got lucky. They cheated the system. Those bastards.

Debate About Revealing a Partner’s Bisexuality

I assumed that it was 100% public knowledge that Jay was bisexual. When we first met, he told me he’s very open about it. I assumed that meant it didn’t matter if I told other people about it, but apparently I was wrong, and we got into a little tiff about this. Here’s how it happened…

A few weeks ago, a guy that Jay used to date invited us to this ‘event’ at a club (lets call this guy Brad). At first I thought it was just clubbing, so I was planning to invite a bunch of my other friends. But the more they discussed the event, it sounded like something beyond ‘just clubbing’. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but I managed to gather that there would be men dressed in women’s clothing, so I thought to myself, “Hm, I better not invite all my conservative friends, and possibly freak them out, since I don’t know what this is.”

We went to the event, and it was really fun. People were dressed kinda crazy, but overall, nothing unreasonable was going on. I figured that I’d bring some of my friends next time. In the mean time, the group I was with all took pictures of ourselves having tons of fun, and put them up on Facebook. 

The next morning, one of my best girl friends, Leslie, texted me, saying, “Blah blah blah, why didn’t you invite me last night? Blah blah blah I always invite you…” Yeah. She was pissed. Apparently that venue was somewhere she goes to all the time and loves, and she was really mad that I went there without inviting her. I know. I’m the worst person in the world. Whatever.

I figured I would try to explain that I didn’t plan the outing, and also why I didn’t invite her: Brad, Jay’s ex, this little gay dude, planned it and I didn’t know what it was until I got there.

The problem is Leslie doesn’t know Jay is bi. So that makes explaining his gay ex a little hard. I could have crafted a way around those details, but I figured the story would be easier to tell if I just explained the whole thing.

So I texted Jay and asked if I could tell Leslie he was bi. At first he said, “Yeah, sure.”

Then he added something like, “As long as she wont think I’m actually gay.”

I told him that she would more likely think he was actually straight… I don’t remember the details, but that lead to a discussion of whether she would believe he was bi or not. I admitted I wasn’t sure what she would think, and then Jay said, “Never mind, I don’t want you to tell her.”

“Why not? You tell strangers.”

“Because this is different. It’s your best friend-“ (Jay was wrong about this, Nora is my best friend, but that’s not important to this story…) “And she’s going to try to convince you that guys can’t be bisexual, and that I’m going to end up gay.”

I didn’t see the problem with that. Leslie has tried to convince me of a lot stupider things before (like that putting a caramel apple in a Ferragamo handbag would not ruin the bag [or the apple] if it was only in there for a few minutes). I have no problem fully disregarding advice that Leslie gives me.

However, Jay explained that Lesley’s opinion of his sexuality was not the problem. “The problem,” he said. “Is why you are telling her.”

I was confused. As far as I knew, I was telling her to get her off my back about not inviting her to some stupid club. But Jay thought differently.

“You are telling her,” he said, “For the same reason you told Max and your mom; because you weren’t sure about dating me, and you wanted their advice. And you’re still not sure, so you’re asking Leslie to help you decide whether it’s a good idea.”

I literally rolled my eyes at this. “Listen,” I said. “I never ask my mom for advice; that’s why we aren’t close. And as for Max, he has the good sense not to try to tell me what to do, which is why we are close. I can assure you that telling them about your sexuality had nothing to do with trying to get advice on whether to date a bisexual guy.”

Eventually Jay admitted that he believed me. He explained that he’s had issues in the past with girls blacklisting him because of his sexuality. Fine. Fair enough. Whatever.

But he also explained that I should not have just assumed it was okay to disclose his sexuality. This was very personal information, he explained.

“But its on your facebook,” I argued.

“Well then people can look at my facebook and ask me about it. But you can’t just assume you can go around telling people.”

“Well how am I suppose to know all these rules?” I said.

“I don’t know.”

“There’s no handbook of bisexual men. There’s no ten commandments for dating bi guys,” I said. “How am I supposed to know what I can tell people and what’s a secret? I can’t know what’s socially appropriate when it comes to bisexuality.”

“It’s the same as being gay. You can’t just go around telling people someone is gay.”

“No,” I said. “It’s not. If we were a gay couple, everyone would know just by looking at us, and there would be no need to tell my friends. It is different.”

“I don’t know,” Jay finally said.

********

So here is my question to all you readers out there; what are the rules for disclosing someone’s bisexuality? Is it a faux pas to ‘out’ them? Or does keeping it a secret mean you are ashamed? 

My Boyfriend Has Touched a Wiener, So I Can’t Donate Blood, What?

I was in a leadership position in my sorority, and as such I was called upon to be involved in just about every social, academic, and philanthropic activity. So when the sororities and fraternities decided to have a campus wide blood drive, I was in charge of making sure the other girls in my chapter actually showed up. Problem is, they were being little pansies about it. No one wanted to give their blood, and certainly not if it involved watching it run out of their arm through a tube. By day three of the drive, when I was planning to go over and donate my blood, I discovered none of our members had shown up yet.

“Come on ladies!” I shouted.

I told them to nut up. I told them all the guys had done it and that was making us look weak in comparison (This threat didn’t resonate. It seems I’m the only girl who worries about being emasculated.)

I rallied a group together and told them to come down to the donation van, and I would go first.

When we got there, I could sense some of our members were going to chicken out. It didn’t help that we ran into some guy friends from one of the fraternities, and even one of them seemed like he might back out when he saw the needle.

“I don’t know man…” he said as he was about to be called.

“Don’t worry Ryan,” I said loudly. “Clearly you’re having your period, so maybe you can just donate some of that blood.”

His bros all laughed, and Ryan, shamed, reluctantly complied when his name was called. Sure my comment was harsh/sexist/gross, but it was also effective. I couldn’t have a guy chicken out, and cause a mass exodus of every member I had convinced to come with me.

While we waited to be called, we had to fill out these questionnaires about our health history and whatnot. Were we feeling well that day? Were we on medications? Had we recently travelled to any of the countries on the attached list?

The questions were aimed at trying to figure out if our blood was clean.

I paused briefly at questions about lifestyle. Apparently gay men (or ‘men who have sexual contact with men’) were not allowed to donate blood. I continued down the list. Evidently, women who have sex with men who have sex with men are not allowed to donate blood either. At the time I didn’t pay this question much mind, since it didn’t apply to me. I do remember thinking it was odd, and wondering, “how many people does that really apply to?” I wasn’t really aware of male bisexuality, so I assumed this question was referring to some sort of drug induced orgy situation.

When it was my turn, I was totally brave. They stabbed the needle into my arm, and I said “success!” when the blood started flowing. When it was done, I stood up (only slightly dizzy) and got a free cookie and juice box.

After that experience, I decided giving blood was the perfect activity for me- a chance to look bad ass, help others, and get a cookie and juice box? What could be better? I donated blood routinely after that.

Since dating Jay, I’ve been busy, and haven’t gotten the chance to donate blood. Then, the other day I remembered the question from the donor form about having sexual contact with men who have sex with men.

I can’t donate blood any more. Ever. At least under the current rules. I’ve been tainted. Blacklisted. My blood no longer qualifies as that of the clean, heterosexual, non-intravenous drug using population. Is this fair? Yeah I guess. They have the right to refuse the blood of anyone they want. It’s not like I can force someone to take my blood just so I can feel better about myself.

I jokingly pointed out to Jay that because of him, I can no longer donate blood.

“What are you talking about?” He asked.

“You can’t donate blood if you have sexual contact with a bi dude.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes it is,” I said.

“Where did you hear that?”

I paused. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t ‘hear’ it anywhere; I just knew it because I was a routine blood donor, and I knew what the requirements were. But for some reason (and I’m still not sure why) I felt like I was hurting his feelings, so I wanted to make it like none of this was my fault. I wanted to put the blame on someone else.

“Nora told me. She said that it says that on the forms.”

Jay insisted that Nora was wrong about this. That sort of ticked me off, because I knew he had no basis for this assertion, other than his own assumption that it was probably untrue.

Today I remembered this dispute, and looked up various blood donor questionnaires online.

The screen cap I sent Jay. See item #21

And it’s true. They all have the question about females who have sex with men who have sex with men. I texted a screen cap to Jay, and he seemed surprised. He said it seemed ‘antiquated’. I was worried he was going to be annoyed and spiral into a little sulk; he gets huffy if he thinks I’m implying he’s less healthy because of his sexual orientation. (I told him he had to get tested before we started hooking up. He said something like “Yeah I’m gay, so obviously I have AIDS.” I said something like “Stow the ‘tude. Get tested.” [He did. Obviously he was 100% clean]) He also gets huffy if he thinks that I need to prove I’m right about something. Texting him screen caps of things I’m right about tends to rub him the wrong way. But this time he took it pretty well. He didn’t seem mad at all, just surprised.

I told him that I would have to find some other way to get a free cookie and juice box now that I can’t donate blood anymore, and he said that he would buy me cookies and juice boxes. #adorable.

So to all the girls out there who have bi boyfriends, welcome to the club. The club of people feeling sorry for us, thinking we we’re dating gay dudes; the club of rotten blood that no one wants. I raise a toast. To us, and our bad blood. Here Here!

Halloween Costumes!!

I believe I’ve mentioned that Halloween is my most favoritest holiday. This year I am going to my friend Max’s block party, and I am going to bring Jay as my date. Going to the party together will be a coming out, of sorts- no not in a gay (or bi) way. In fact it is me who will be ‘coming out’; I will be ‘coming out’ as a girl in a committed relationship. I’ve never brought a serious boyfriend to a party like this before, and many of my friends have been waiting to see if it is true that the commitment-phobic Sydney really has a serious boyfriend. And I do. And I will be presenting him to all of my more distant acquaintances on Halloween.

Naturally, our costumes for this even will be of utmost importance, and Jay and I have been discussing them for a while.  He offered to dress up in something matchy, but I flat out refused. Couples who wear ‘couples costumes’ make me want to barf. I told him to dress up in whatever he wanted as long as it looked hot. Thus, Jay decided he wanted to be “What Does the Fox Say”

Unfortunately, he did not have that pajama jumpsuit thing, so instead he figured he could just get the ears and tail, and the basic idea would still come across. I encouraged him to go shirtless because, while it has nothing to do with foxes, being shirtless is always appropriate when one has a bangin’ bod. So it was decided; Jay would be a shirtless fox.

Jay planned to get the fox accessories online. Lots of places sell ear and tail combos. Most of these are targeted at girls- I guess the idea is that you can wear ears and a tail with any slutty outfit, and you’re some kind of animal for Halloween. Replace the trampy corset and booty shorts with a pair of jeans, and these costumes work just as well for men. Unfortunately, the site was sold out of the “Feelin’ Foxy” accessory set- understandable, considering Jay tried to order them a few days ago (a week before Halloween). Instead, he had to go to a Halloween store to see if they had anything suitable. Tragically, they were sold out of “Feelin’ Foxy” as well, but they did have “Pretty Kitty”, a cat ear and tail combo. Jay got the idea that he could pass the cat ears off as fox ears. He also got a little dog nose mask.

When he showed me the cat ears, we had a brief discussion about whether some foxes are black. I maintain that no foxes are black, but that’s beside the point; the fox in “What Does the Fox Say” is not black. Ultimately, we did a little brainstorming and decided that Jay is not the fox from “What Does the Fox Say”; instead he is some kind of mutant furry mammal of indeterminate species… but he’s shirtless, so frankly I think he will totally pull it off.

Oh, and this is much less interesting, but I feel I should reveal what my costume will be. I will be some sort of black swan ballerina thing… maybe it’s a peacock. I’m not really sure. It’s a tutu with a peacock feather headband. I just saw it and thought it was pretty.

……………………………..

I feel like I should make an effort to talk about issues relating to male bisexuality in every post; after all, that’s sort of my hook.  If I had called this blog, “So I’m Going to This Halloween Party…” none of you would be reading it. But unfortuantely, Jay doesn’t always do ‘bisexual’ stuff (whatever that is…) Sadly, the only way I could cram bisexuality into this topic was with an offensive joke that I decided not to make. When Jay showed me the cat ears and the dog mask,  I was tempted to say, “So your halloween costume’s not really sure what it is… just like your sexuality.” BUT I did not say it. He would probably have laughed, but I’m never sure if it’s okay to make these kinds of jokes. To all the awesome bi guys out there, what do you think? Offensive or not?

Advice Attempt for 17 yr. old Girl w/ Bi Boyfriend

“No one else I have encountered is in this situation. I’m 17, and my boyfriend is bisexual, and he only recently publicly came out. To say that my parents were displeased would be an understatement. I basically get told that he’s just gay and not ready to come out, he’s going to cheat on me, our relationship will go nowhere etc.- on the daily. Oh, and it’s long distance to boot. But I really love him, and I don’t appreciate my family giving me hell. Any advice? “

In this post I’m going to focus on a question posed by a reader. The question is from a young lady whose boyfriend recently came out as bi, and now she’s getting a bunch of criticism about it from family and friends. I’m so glad she shared her question with me, and I really hope my advice is helpful (even though it is only my opinion). Her question raises a lot of different issues, so I want to break it down and address each one.

• “No one else I have encountered is in this situation.”

Having a bi boyfriend is indeed an unusual situation, especially if you are in high school. Guys tend to be babies about stuff, and most of them don’t have to balls to come to terms with who they are at such a young age (or ever, to be honest). So, having a bi boyfriend is not really a common issue, and it’s hard to find people who can relate. I’m a little older than you, and still none of my girl friends have been in this position, and honestly none of them had anything helpful to say about it.

• “I’m 17, and my boyfriend is bisexual.”

At 17, you are a few years younger than me and Jay, so hopefully your relationship is a sign of a trend- that our generation is becoming more comfortable with male bisexuality.  I assume your boyfriend is around your age, and if he felt confident enough to come out at 17, that’s really great.

I do have to make one point, and you may not like it Some young guys are unsure about their sexuality, so you have to leave open the possibility that he may not always identify as bi. I know it’s annoying when people assume bi guys are actually gay (or straight), especially when they don’t even know the person as well as you, but… he is young, just keep it in mind, please don’t hate me.

• “To say that my parents were displeased would be an understatement.”

Yeah… That really sucks. Fortunately (for me), I’ve never had to be in that situation. At first, I was a little worried what my parents would think about me dating a bi guy, because they used to be fairly conservative. However they have become much more open minded in recent years. My mom found out her favorite nephew was gay, and suddenly she became the poster girl for gay rights, and even started working with some non-profits to support marriage equality and so on.

Anyway, back to your parents… I guess what you should do depends on what your parents are like.  I mean, how displeased are they? Have they told you to stop seeing your Boyfriend? And why are they upset? Is it for moral/religious reasons? Or are they worried he wont be a good long term partner (as in, he wont be able to settle down, or will cheat on you, or will give you an STI)?

If they have your best interests at heart and simply don’t understand bisexuality, you might be able to reason with them. Tell them to read about it from a reputable source, and remind them that your boyfriend isn’t more likely to cheat on you or have an STI just because of his sexuality. But if they are opposed for some moral or religious reason, that could be trickier… In that case I would just hold out until you turn 18, and in the mean time, try not to draw too much attention to your relationship or piss off your parents.

As for what they are saying, you can probably diffuse these comments with the some quick responses, because honestly these kinds of comments don’t have much merit.

“He’s just gay and not ready to come out”
Response: Well let’s just wait and see.

“He’s going to cheat”
Response: Any guy could cheat on me. Do you know how many people cheat? A lot. And more importantly, this one hasn’t cheated on me so far, so why would I break up with him for that reason?

“The relationship will go nowhere”
Response: Most 17 year olds’ relationships go nowhere.

Overall, it sounds like your family thinks the relationship is going to fail since your boyfriend is (in their minds) gay and going to cheat on you. First of all, they don’t know either of those things, and certainly not better than you and your boyfriend do.

Second, even if the relationship does fail (I’m not saying it will, but many do at your age), that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t date him. You learn a lot about yourself by dating; you learn what qualities you want in a partner, and what you can put up with etc. For example, my friend Christina figured out she can’t handle guys who always turn and look at other women walking down the street. She tried to put up with it from her first boyfriend, but after they broke up, she knew it wasn’t worth the trouble. Her life was a lot easier and her relationships were a lot happier once she vowed not to date guys that constantly ogle hotter women. If she had never learned that, she could have ended up married to a guy who leers at other women, and spent her life feeling miserable an inadequate.

I, on the other hand, learned a different lesson through dating. I figured out that I don’t care at all if a guy drools over hot women like a brain dead idiot. But I can’t put up with guys who don’t like spicy food. I know this seems like a minor issue, but my dating experience showed me that actually… its not. Dating a guy who can’t handle spicy food makes choosing restaurants and ordering food a constant problem.

Going out to eat just becomes stressful and tense because its nothing but a chance to disagree and to dig up old disagreements about the same issue. If, on the other hand, I date a guy who likes spicy food, the relationship is a lot easier because it eliminates an entire category of things that start fights.

Point being, dating is about learning. You learn so much from dating. And you will come away with that knowledge and experience even if your boyfriend does turn out to be gay, a cheater, a wizard (that would be awesome), or whatever. Maybe you can remind your family of that, and it will get them off your back.

My last point is this: Sorry if it seems like all my advice centers around the idea that he may be gay and it still wont matter. I don’t think he’s gay. I don’t think anyone understands your relationship better than you guys. I just happen to know that when someone says your boyfriend is gay, saying “No he’s not!” doesn’t get your very far. You can’t change their mind. They think he’s gay/a cheater/whatever, and that’s just the end of it as far as they are concerned. If you really want to get people off your back, the best option is sometimes to agree with them but show them even if they are right, it still doesn’t matter. Then hopefully, they will realize they are wasting everyone’s time by trying to make a useless point, and shut up about it.

Jay and Sydney Go Beer Tasting

Jay decided it would be fun to go beer tasting, and sent me a text asking if I would be interested. I’m not really a fan of beer, and it was always my understanding that “tasting” was the worst part of the beer experience, while being drunk afterwards was the payoff. So I sent Jay a text back saying something like “Please don’t be offended, but I’d rather taste other stuff, including things that aren’t edible like glue or tree bark.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t send the text to Jay, I sent it to Janice, a friend that I have fallen out of touch with. So when I showed up at Jay’s house a few days later, he was under the impression that we were going beer tasting. (It was then that I looked back at my phone and saw the mistake. I wondered why Janice hadn’t responded, asking what the heck I was talking about. I guess she has learned to ignore my nonsense, like most of my friends have.)

I was mildly annoyed about the beer tasting, because what it really meant is that I would have to follow Jay around, make sure he didn’t get into trouble, and then drag his ass to a cab when he was too drunk to handle such simple tasks. I’m not a fan of baby-sitting drunk Jay. I’m usually pretty good at controlling drunk guy friends because I’m freakishly strong for a girl. For example, my friend Max is 6’3” and I can give him piggy back rides if he’s too inebriated or tired to walk (I’m not even joking). Max, however, is a lazy sack of crap whose athletic activities consist of “surfing” (standing on the beach with a board and trying to hit on girls) and driving manual transmission cars. If I need to physically overpower him, it is in the realm of possibility. Jay on the other hand is an actual athlete- at least he was until graduating from college last year- meaning if he sets his drunk mind on something, very few people can overpower him, except for, perhaps, other division one athletes. I learned this lesson the hard way when, on the way home from a bar, Jay decided to hassle a crack head who was minding his own business, doing crack head things. It took another guy friend and myself to shove Jay down the street, even with my freakish girl strength.

I made sure to whine a little bit on the way to the beer tasting, just in preparation for the debacle it was sure to be.

“Why couldn’t we go taste something else?”

“Like what?” he said.

“Wings.”

“They have hot-wings here,” he said.

That was a game changer. Hot-wings instantly take any situation from miserable to completely tolerable, and from tolerable to freaking awesome. So the first thing we did was stand in line for wings, and then eat them huddled around a small table. The entire time, Jay was saying, “Come on! All the beer’s gonna be gone,” and I was shouting, “Don’t rush me!”

Aside from the hotwings, not much about the beer tasting was particularly memorable. We tasted beers; that was pretty much it. Jay told me all about the colors and the flavors and subtleties of the beers, but I didn’t really appreciate what he was talking about. Some one who cares more about beers probably would have loved it…

I know this blog is called, “So I’m Dating This Bisexual Guy” so I feel like I should say something on topic. But nothing bisexual happened at the beer tasting (and why would it?). The closest thing was that we both stopped to watch a group of guys dressed in sailor costumes dance in front of a DJ booth. #Hot. Also, every time we went to taste a beer, Jay made me get a different flavor and drank mine too, and I almost made the joke, “Wow, you really like to have it both ways.” But I didn’t say it because I wasn’t sure he would appreciate that kind of humor. I really don’t know if he likes to be teased about his sexuality. Honestly I still haven’t tested the waters because I’m too scared.

Overall, beer tasting is pretty uneventful, and has very little to do with sexuality- unless you count the fact that it reminded me of a brilliant plan: One of these days I’m going to get Jay really drunk and ask him all the important questions like “If I had a penis but looked like a girl, would you still like me?” and “Have you ever thought about one of your guy friends in a dirty way?” But these are all questions for another day because beer tasting didn’t get him quite drunk enough 😉

 

Sydney Talks to Angry Reader

So remember that angry commenter who left his phone number and told me to call him? I called him.

He was a gay man who seriously objected to straight women dating bi guys. This video summarizes our conversation. Later posts will go into more detail on my feelings regarding the conversation.

You can hear me speaking to him, and (out of respect for his privacy) I only summarize what he says in response. You guys get to hear my weird voice in this video.

Also, if anyone else wants to contact me via phone or skype, I would love to do so. It doesn’t have to be a confrontational conversation; it can be a friendly chat 🙂