Sinister: Respons to Response to rebelstrange's message from a gayboy

[CALLENDAR R]

 I thought I'd just send a reply to Chris' message [below]. I totally agree
with everything he says. Being gay, the 'scene' is ultimately annoying. I go
out and have fun, but at times the whole bitchyness/competativeness gets on
my nerves. Another annoying thing is that, if you don't like Techno/bangin'
house or camp Hnadbag music (or remixes of Steps, B*Witched or Spice Girls)
you are fucked. They (the club owners/bar ownners) assume that no-one likes
'indie' music. Certainly Belle and Sebastian wouldn't get a look in, even in
the more 'indie friendly' cities of London, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds e.t.c
The ONLY clubs where I enjoy myself and wanna dance all night are 'indie'
clubs, and only a few play B&S. For me, when they play B&S at (gay indie
clubs)Popstarz or Room 2 in Heaven, it is like all my birthdays have come at
once. On the rest of the gay scene I feel like an outsider. I'm not even
very good at bitching. Anyway, that's my views! Sorry for boring you/lack of
B&S content!! Bye!! //ROB xx

-----Original Message-----
From: McQuain, Chris
To: 'sinister at majordomo.net'
Sent: 5/22/99 8:24 PM
Subject: Sinister: Response to rebelstrange's message from a gayboy

I saw the 'glad to be gay' message from rebelstrange on 5/21 and thought
I'd
drop a brief (?) line. 

I'm one of the gayboys who is in love with B&S (I find Stuart M.
particularly crush-worthy, but they're all so beautiful and I listen to
the
Gentle Waves every single day), and I have a theory: This whole 'gay
community' thing, aside from the political belief that we must have
legal
recourse to guarantee that we are not fired or denied housing or
harassed or
threatened, is for the fucking birds. I have gay friends, I have
straight
friends, but I don't care in the least about gay/straight and neither do
they. Maybe it's different for the girls, but for the boys (I'm 23, so
maybe
I can only speak about the 20-something boys), there seems to be nothing
but
cheapness, tawdriness, anti-love, anti-feelings, false machismo, etc, in
our
'scene'. Going to gaybars is sickeningly similar to going to a college
fraternity house where everybody is interested only in preening,
asserting
their superiority, and drinking/fucking. It's like a bunch of typically
heterofratboys allowed to go out of control, all the aggression and
'masculinity' entirely out of balance. Some ferocity and aggression have
their place, in girls and in boys, but surely not without some value
placed
on love, affection, consideration and kindness? It's a sad day when the
most
visible and vocal parts of your local gay (male? again, I can only speak
for
my experience) community are intent on erasing their vulnerability,
anything
'feminine', from themselves, and I believe that's the day we're living
in,
at least here in Portland (Oregon, USA). 

Belle & Sebastian, whether or not any of them are gay or straight (and
I'm
sure they're smart and sensitive enough to know that it hardly matters),
have an undeniably genderless/sexless outlook, a sweetly androgynous
worldview that asserts the bright light of its innocuousness out into
the
harsh, competitive, mean-spirited world. Belle & Sebastian and all the
side
groups emanate something so childlike and comforting, it's really a joy
to
listen to it and know that the 'little people' and the 'little things'
aren't insignificant to everybody. 

I'm sure none of us are overly concerned with our genders or sexual
orientations, accepting of all of them. The things that bind us are so
much
deeper and more beautiful than gender/sex, which are only issues because
of
the cruel and stupid people of the world, anyway. If it's a surprise to
anybody that there are a lot of queer boys who are into Belle &
Sebastian,
I'd say it's nothing but the most pleasant kind of surprise, I'm sure
there
are throngs of us who aren't obsessed with the macho posturing or the
bitchy
competitiveness, who in fact need an antidote. I've decided that the
next
guy I date MUST be into Belle & Sebastian, I really believe it says a
lot
(not everything, of course, but maybe enough?) about a person. 

And now, softly to sleep.... 

-Chris
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 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+
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 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+
 +-+                     "jelly-filled danishes"                   +-+
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