Not Enough Fiction ~ An Original Short Story

[TheWolfEmperor]

Themes of homosexuality and religion. Nothing explicit.

************************************************************

She gave me a look that fell somewhere between encouragement and pity. I couldn't tell if she enjoyed the story, or if her smile would be better reserved for telling an aging grandparent that he was going to have the time of his life at his new nursing home.

"This comment here," she said, frantically flipping through the pages until she found the bit of dialogue that concerned her, "I don't know if you want him to say that. Because it makes it seem like he's gay."

"Yes?" I waited. No response. "And?"

"Well, you don't want readers to think he's gay."

"Why not?"

She frowned.

"Is he?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "It's too early in the story to tell one way or the other. I like to keep it ambiguous."

"But, I just don't think he should make a comment like that."

"Okay. I appreciate that it might bother some readers, but I don't think it will bother all that many. This is the 21st century, after all, and people aren't so bothered by such things these days."
She seemed uncertain. At first I thought she would move on to the other areas of the story that could use improvement, but then as if a floodgate had just burst, "But it's wrong."

"What's wrong?" I asked, holding back a sigh.

"If he's gay, it would be wrong."

"Why?"

"Well, because, it's a sin."

"In your opinion."

"No, it's a sin. You can go to Hell for that."

This time I let the sigh go. I was trying to be professional and open to the critique she might offer, but this had nothing to do with the story, so I dropped the kid gloves.
"I'm pretty sure you can go to hell for a lot of things. Like, for example, passing judgment on other people for their preferences."

From her expression, it was clear that she was shocked by her inability to convert me on the spot with her expression of homophobia. And perhaps because of this, I went on, "Besides, if Hell was an exclusive club where you could definitely go to find gay men, that would hardly be a deterrent. It'd be like trying to treat bulimia by making them work at an ipecac factory."

She bristled. Then, "Bulimia is more common in girls than in boys."

[guitarhero01234]

...You know, Hell doesn't sound all that bad now. I really liked this, man. Even though it was a little short, I feel like it could help open up a dialogue. Speaking of which, I haven't done a big-ass rant in a long time, and I think I feel one brewing up in the pit of my stomach right now...

Back in middle and high school, I used to hear things like that a lot. "Dont talk like that, that's gay." "Don't hang out with Ben, people might think you're gay." Before I really began to question my own sexuality and eventually realize that I, myself, am gay, I went on a tirade on AFF a while back when I saw a sign trying to language police people from using the word "gay" (you can find that here), and I still believe what I said back then. That may seem to contradict what I'm trying to say, but let me explain. In that thread, I was referring to people using the word gay to mean something other than its literal meaning. Here, I'm talking about the literal meaning. It's a subtle distinction, but an important one to make.

Anyway, whenever people said stuff like that, it always pissed me off. Who the hell are you to tell me what I can and can't do, and under the basis of something that shouldn't even matter, no less. I've even heard it from my mom a few times, which kind of baffled me. People should be able to act how they want, talk to who they want, and in the case of this story, write what they want without having some douchebag feeling the need to pop in with some stupid homophobic BS. Again, I'm not referring to the use of the word "gay" to refer to anything other than homosexuality, and I'm also not saying that you should be able to do whatever you want without criticism. That's another discussion for another day.

Wow, I kinda said a lot without saying much at all there

[TheWolfEmperor]

I appreciate your response and I respect that it had a strong reaction for you. I hope people can take many different things from this piece, but I just wanted to clarify that the main idea behind this story was less about promoting gay rights and equality as it was about how people sometimes project their own belief system or misconceptions onto a story that they're proofreading and then refuse to focus on actually improving or polishing the story they're being asked to read.