The Way Things Are Perceived by Careless Heart

This past weekend I threw my mom a birthday party for her 50th. I have to say it turned out really nice. I’m a control freak so I was stressed out about having other people complete task since I don’t live there. Let me get to the topic at hand. I invited my best friend, his boyfriend, and his mother. My family knows I’m gay and I’m very comfortable in my skin and they love my bff. Now I thought that we would be the only gay people at the party; that was so not the case. My gay cousin was there, and another local Gay. We’ll just call her Grace Jones. This was an all back party and Grace Jones showed up in cut off jeans, a t-shirt, and some dirty shoes. His hair was pretty long and to me looked out of control. To make a long story short, he got up to do a song, “Sweet Thang”, and boy was she sweet. My bff boyfriend took a video of it. Now let me repeat, I’m comfortable in my skin, but I hate for people to have the perception that all gays are the same. I don’t consider myself the most masculine dude nor am I overly flamboyant. You won’t find me wearing woman’s clothes, nor will you see me acting over the top. I was born a man and I intend on staying one. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging those who do so, I’m just a little frustrated that society assumes all gay people are this way. I can remember telling my mom that I did not like gay people. She replied, “How can you say you don’t like gay people when you’re gay. Do you not like yourself?” At that point I saw a dude walking down the street with some heals on and a purse and so I pointed to the dude and told her that’s what I don’t like. She replied, “oh, you don’t like faggots.” At that point I had to stop my mom because I don’t like that word. It’s like calling another black person nigga, so degrading. Although she used that word, we both agreed that I don’t like over the top fem dudes. So when I tell people that I’m gay, I hate the way I am perceived. It’s just like saying all black people are hood or ghetto. So don’t think that you know me, because you don’t by far, and only perceive me for the way that things are.