Same Same, Why Gay Doesn't Matter

As a straight white male, Nathan Timmel fits neatly into the demographic most likely to fear the LGBT community. When ‘Gay Rights’ are being discussed on the news or in the world of politics, white males are generally those opposed to equality. In his essay Same Same, Nathan describes how an upbringing devoid of homophobia—something unusual for a small Midwest town in the early 1980s—prevented him from falling into the trappings of bigotry. Though various forms of racism and prejudice governed many around him, Nathan maintained the strong belief that all people are equal. With stories from childhood to current day, Nathan describes: The intolerance he witnessed in small-town Wisconsin. Gay bars he tentatively visited in Milwaukee (only to find they put straight bars and their testosterone-soaked clientele to shame). His own near miss with gay bashing while walking with a friend in Boston. A run-in with an overly zealous fella at his local gym, someone who held an all-too-obvious interest in Nathan. Despite surroundings that should have tainted his point of view, Nathan turned a shoulder to the negativity, returning instead to the strong belief instilled in him as a child: love is love, no matter the gender of those involved. Length: 8,000 words