‘C,

Out in the Mountains

From All Angles: Homo-faux-bia

Hugh Coyle

(Note: This series intends to look at con-

troversial questions from a number of \

various perspectives, sometimes se-
riously, sometimes not so seriously. Sev-
eral grains of salt are recommended be-
fore reading.)

It sounds like a mind—bender or some sort
of Zen koan: When is “out” in? A lot of
anti—gay media types have been asking
that question lately in response to a new
fad that’s sweeping through the nation’s
schools.

When I first heard about it a few months
ago, I didn’t believe it. I thought it was
some stupid story cooked up by con-
servative columnists to raise the flags
once again and sound the usual alarms.
Young people, they were saying, were
starting to equate being gay with being
“cool” and “with it,” and more than a few
were identifying themselves as homo-
sexual just to rebel against their parents
and oppressive societal standards.

Then this summer, a friend of mine was
telling me about “Theodore” (not his real
name), a gay co—worker of hers. Theo-
dore was “out” with a vengeance: ear-
rings, funky hair, wild clothes, campy
laugh, the full swish and sway. He even
begged her to let him borrow some of her
dresses so that he could attend an up-
coming party in drag. Weeks later, she
happened to run into Theodore and his
girlfriend walking arm in arm through the
downtown shopping area.

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For people like Theodore, being gay
means assuming an affectation. It's a
fashion statement, not a way of life. You
can pass for gay if you walk the walk and
talk the talk, just like gay people pass for
straight all the time by dressing ultra-
conservatively and trading fag jokes with
their friends. Everyone knows that wear-
ing jeans and cowboy boots doesn’t make
someone an instant ranch hand, however.
In fact, some people take such actions to
be as insulting as blackface was to Af-
rican—Americans in the early half of the
century. It may look like lots of fun, but in
the end, the joke’s on us.

“Acting” gay like some of these kids do
reinforces all the old stereotypes about
what it supposedly means to Q gay: the
limp wrist, the wispy voice, the traipse
across the dance floor to the nearest pow-
der room. It assumes a sort of orthodoxy
to the one and only lifestyle of lesbigay
peoples. If you’re a lesbian, you start
wearing flannel shirts and pants, you cut
your hair short (except under the arms),
and you ride around town on your Harley
with your girlfriend wrapped around
your waist on your way to the latest pro-
choice rally.

But not every gay man bursts into a rous-
ing Broadway medley when coming out
of the closet, and not all of us take those
first tentative steps in heels, either. Like-
wise, the road to open lesbianism does not
necessarily involve cigarette addiction or
a sudden inability to spell “woman” in the
traditional (albeit theoretically ques-
tionable) manner. This is the sort of be-
havior our conservative surrogate
“moms” and “dads” warn us about when
they spout hateful things about “those
people” and “their type.” With full irony
intended, it’s exactly why so many young
people are transforming that “don’t do”
checklist into a rebellious generational
identity: it pisses off their parents.

There are those in the gay and lesbian
world who welcome these wannabes and see
them as allies in creating increased visibility
and promoting political causes. Perhaps they
are serving to break down cultural stereo-

types and neutralize preconceived notions of '

what it means to be gay and/or lesbian, but
they do so by reinforcing those same stereo
types. It may not be as bad as blackface, but
pinkface isn’t so pretty underneath the sur-
face, either.

Being gay is not necessarily about cul-
tural rebellion. Many of us aren’t gay
simply because we like to annoy our par-
ents and raise eyebrows at parties. We’re
gay because we are gay, not because we
choose to act gay or live “the gay life-
style.” The young person coming out of
the closet because he or she is truly gay
or lesbian faces an incredibly difficult ar-
ray of questions and confusions. A pro-
liferation of pseudo-sissies and demi-
dykes only complicates the matter of
understanding one’s personal sexual iden-
tity. And God help the still-stumbling kid
who falls in love with one of these make-
pretend pretty boys or bogus biker girls...

Gay and lesbian people know all about
acting, and for many-of us, the truly liber-
ating thing about coming out of the closet
is that we no longer h_a\g to act like
someone or something that we’re not.
Watching straight people act like they’re
gay may very well be amusing for a
while, but then again, so is watching gay
people act like they’re straight.

In the end, it’s the whole notion of “act-
ing” which deserves reconsideration. Do
we want a society in which people a_Ct
like they accept gay and lesbian people,
or one in which they really do? In that
latter, ideal world, there would be no
need for acting either way. The concept
of the closet -would cease to exist, and
along with it, the entire notion of being
either “out” or “in.” V

Psychiatry

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