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I had a really unpleasant experience this evening. Tonight was the only night our entire tour group agreed to go out for drinks after our "adventures" for the day were completed, so we all went to the backpacker bar next to our hostel. Despite the bad music, the expensive drinks, and the rather dead crowd, we were managing to have a good time. Eventually, we dispersed to mingle with some people we'd met earlier; I ended up chatting for a good bit of time with a couple of Mennonite guys from Pennsylvania who are working on a nearby dairy farm for a few months. We knew a few of the same people at Goshen College! Fancy that!
Eventually I met a few New Zealanders and was talking to them for a while. They seemed quite friendly, one bought me a drink, they were generally interested and interesting. After a while, two of the Kiwi girls got very drunk, and one started coming onto me quite strongly, so I simply told her I was gay... and the entire experience changed instantly. The girls started saying things like, "Really? No, I don't believe it... you're too cute to like boys!" and the guys - quite literally - all moved to the other side of the table and said things like, "OK, guess I'm gonna sit over here now," and "Fuck man, shouldn't you have told us sooner?" One of the guys tried to cover by saying, "Oh, well, man, so long as it doesn't affect me, do what you want."
SO offended. (I'm sure many of you will understand the feeling.) The "backpacker culture" can be summed up by: alcohol, adventure, straight sex, and cheap food. And while I'm a rather big fan of adventure, and a(n occasionally eager) partaker of alcohol, the straight sex and cheap food just really doesn't do it for me. Another reason these backpacker hostels aren't my cup o' tea. Homophobia, ick.
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August 21st 2008 - DAD: 9am thurs
that's neat about the mennonites; but ECCH! , pretty sad about the rejection.
keep the news flowing.
love,
dad
August 21st 2008 - Mom: unpleasant experience
Oh, Austin, I am so sorry people responded to you that way! Such ignorant people make me sad. Hugs. Mom
August 21st 2008 - Don L.: Blech!
I'm sorry baby! I wish I was there with you so we could have made out in front of them and made them all REALLY uncomfortable! lol That would have been delightful!
August 22nd 2008 - Andrew: Boo
Damn. That sucks. I hate those kinds of experiences. It really brings you back down to earth about the realities of the world we still live in. Love and miss you!
August 23rd 2008 - Joal: confirmation
Everytime I think I'm finally being accepted for who I am, I always have experiences like this as well. It brings you back to the place where you realize that we can never really be the same.
Friends always tell me that gay people and straight people are all people and all the same and it seems that if they've never faced this rejection, they can't really speak to that.
I'm sorry this happened. But I'm sure you handled it well.
August 24th 2008 - jareb:
I forget sometimes that homophobia still exists in a small population of ignorant people because I live where I do, but on the bright side, love eclipses ignorance every time, you dont even realize it's there. you're too bright to even think about those idiots for a second. i wish DonL would have been there too... hee hee
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