He calls her "SJP"...

Below are three stories of me and my flirting and gumption with the male species. A little background first.

So, here’s something that may be shocking: Columbia, SC, Furman University, and Mill Spring, NC are not the greatest places for a gay man to live. I will give credit where credit is due, Furman did have 5 out males in my senior class: go me, Jared (hi Jared!), Nick F., Ken S., and Adam B. Nevertheless, I’ve still been without a man for *cough* ever.

Now I’m here, in Chapel Hill, not exactly a gay Mecca, but certainly an area with better prospects as far as gay (boy)friends goes. For example, there’s a Gay Pride each year in Durham, the head of the Log Cabin Republicans spoke at UNC during National Coming Out Week, and this area is called “The Triangle”—ha! (If you don’t know why that last one is significant, ask me, I’ll give you a quick story about Nazis, the color pink, and the Pride movement).

So, with the potential of running into one of these “other gay people” I’ve heard so much, I’ve “stepped up to the plate” as it were.

Story 1: Friday of last week, the apartment mates and I stepped out to Speakeasy in Carrboro. It was your typical Carrboro crowd: kinda hippy, kinda funky, really chill. And in walks a guy that Diana and James both agree is the only one in the bar that is “my type”—i.e. preppy, well-dressed, cute. I try to do the eye-contact game, which is working with medium success. So, when this guy goes up to the bar, I make my way and end up standing next to him. We have a quick chat about what he’s drinking and who he is, which is John, an English/Drama double-major at UNC. Yes, English AND Drama. With that my gaydar really starts going off. Somehow—I’m still not sure how—he and his friends end up striking up conversations with me and my friends. There are six people discussing what young people discuss in bars which of course included “Sex and the City.” John expresses despair over Sarah Jessica Parker wearing a fanny pack in one episode. Now, I’ve seen my fair share of “Sex and the City,” but I don’t recall which episode John was referring to, nor do I call Sarah Jessica Parker “SJP,” but John does.

So after a detailed memory of “Sex and the City” episodes, a critique of the show’s fashion choices, revelation of nicknames for strong female icons, this English/Drama double-major introduces us to his freaking GIRLFRIEND Greer. What the hell, I mean, for real though.

So, we continue the conversations with laughs and good discussions abounding, and then the two groups go their separate ways. As we leave the bar, James remarks, “[John] was the gayest straight man ever.” It was decided that John is either in denial or hasn’t figured it out yet; but that does me no good, so the search continues.

There are two other similar adventures that I want to tell you guys about, but Battlestar Galactica is on and this post has become long enough…