Boy Meets Boy

For anyone who’s watched this series, let me save you some time:

Wes is the straight dude.

Brian will “win” the competition.

Franklin will be shit outta luck.

It’s an intriguing show, really, with the gay guys being “the norm” and the straight guys forced into the closet. A unique and enlightening twist on the usually childish reality TV genre.

But how do I know how it will end tonight? Well, if you caught the last episode, as I did, the indicators were all there. Wes, who seemed the gayest of the three finalists, is straight. He said the word “why” at the end. It wasn’t the fact that he said it, but rather, how he said it that blew his cover.

Franklin, the most masculine contestant, is actually gay. One jealous glare, and it was obvious he’s playing for keeps.

Brian will win if the chooser, James, is smart. If he’s not so smart, he’ll choose Wes, the straight guy.

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6 Responses to Boy Meets Boy

  1. Gian says:

    Hmmm… perhaps you should have caught the show before you posted. =)

    My feeling about the show is it is a cruel twist… I know that reality shows always have some sort of angle, but I felt like this was different. If you have straight men trying to pass as gay it is likely that they will play to the stereotypes. So, it doesn’t prove the point that we are the same… The fact of the matter is gay people and straight people are different and we need to embrace those differences. Diversity strengthens a community and by ignoring our differences you make them much more of an issue when people are actually confronted with the issues (i.e. Mathew Shepard, Brandon Teena, etc.). Perhaps these are extreme examples, but they are true examples…

  2. Eric says:

    I don’t know; I figured the endgame out based on the fact that Franklin was paired with Sean for the last main elimination (and he was the only straight boy kicked in that elimination). I figured that Wes would be picked by James because he’s a different enough personality; and moreover, because he’s a playa’ (though they covered that up pretty well in the end – or maybe he really was trying hard).

    I should note that I post this after the show was over (in response to Aaron’s predictions). Also, I look forward to the wonderful things (sarcasm optional) that Aaron has to say about me; as a consequence of our bet.

  3. Aaron W. Benson says:

    My feeling about the show is it is a cruel twist… I know that reality shows always have some sort of angle, but I felt like this was different. If you have straight men trying to pass as gay it is likely that they will play to the stereotypes.

    I totally disagree. As my previous post proves, I was totally unable to choose the straight guy through the duration of the show. It wasn’t because everyone was playing to stereotypes. Quite the opposite, and unlike the other, catty reality TV shows, it was because they all came across as mature, intelligent and respectful of one another. The show wasn’t a parade of “queens” and “breeders.” Otherwise, I wouldn’t have tuned in.

    Sure, the “Boy Meets Boy” producers may have rejected some more overtly feminine contestants as well as some of the more masculine, up-tight straight guys, but I don’t believe those extremes constitute the norm of either sexuality. Besides, I don’t think they’d be James’s type, anyway.

    That stands in contrast to the rediculous, self-caricaturing Fab-5 on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” The show, replete with its disco music and overemphasized lisps, seems an insult to gay men, the same sort of backhanded “acceptance” blacks saw on TV all the way through the 1960’s. Here’s a question I’m dying for someone to answer: Why would any gay man watch that show?

    it doesn’t prove the point that we are the same… The fact of the matter is gay people and straight people are different and we need to embrace those differences.

    I disagree, and I think the statement risks stereotyping one’s own kind. In what way are gay and straight people different that wasn’t shown on the TV show?

  4. Gian says:

    The fact of the matter is, we are different. Perhaps we don’t all fit the stereotypes, perhaps some of us are straight acting. But, we are different. We are forced to go through our everyday lives looking through a straight lense, even though that lense is not our own. Not until we come out, which straight people don’t ever have to do, do we finally get to experience life as a gay person. To say that gay and straight people are exactly the same is like saying all minority groups are just like white people. No, we aren’t. There are differences and there are of course similarities. But, we are forced to live in an intolerant culture that devalues our people, sometimes killing us simply because they some book written over 2000 years ago supposedly referred to something we do in bed. You are straight (I am assuming, which could also be why you didn’t know who was gay or straight. Ask most gay people, we did!). You could never know what it is like for a GLBT person, just like I, being white, could never fully what it is like for you as an African-American. By equating us to straight people, you are using dominant language to erase our identities and assimilate us to straight culture.

    Go on a date with another man and see how people at the restaurant react to the two of you holding hands… then come back and tell me that we are the same, and that our cultural experience is the same.

  5. Judy says:

    I would like to comment on something, and I would love for anyone that is gay to e-mail me on what you think!
    I am a fat woman…well I am sure that doesn’t interest you, but hear me out! My son is gay..I went to Washington D.C. to march in the Gay Pride parade in 94, I went shopping after the parade, I stopped into a book store. Lamda, I had my small daughter with me, and she had to use the bathroom, a lady working in the store told me to go to a resturant on the corner and walk in as if I oun the place and take my daughter to the bathroom! I did just that, I walked in the resturant and headed to the bathroom, well there were many good looking men in the restruant, as I was walking past one table, one man stated for the whole resturant to hear….”that is why I am gay” meaning me, and the fact that I am fat…I could hardly hold my tears in…I hurryed and took my daughter to the bathroom, and left as fast as I could….I have never told this story to anyone….but I was so hurt…I have thought about this alot over the years…if I could go back to that day…I would have a answer to that man…and this is it….I MAY BE FAT, BUT YOU ARE NOT GAY BECAUSE I AM FAT..YOU WERE BORN GAY…AND I GOT UP EARLY TODAY AND DROVE MY FAT ASS TO WASHINGTON, AND MARCHED MY FAT ASS IN A PARADE, SO THAT YOU COULD SIT YOUR ASS IN THIS RESTURANT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND, and I can just bet he wouldn’t get his ass out of bed and march his ass in a fat pride parade….I don’t want to be fat…I was born with a gene that does not tell the brain that the stomach is full….as with every fat person. If I could be thin, I would be…its the norm, and living in the norm would always be easy…but we are not all “thin straigh white or male” I am a fat female, but I am a good person! linparks@charter.net

  6. Alfred says:

    Hey! Your Wierd. WES is the hottest guy in the WORLD! i knew Franklin was the straight one. he acts like hes not. Brian didnt win cuz DUH Wes is hot!

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