Issue2

Issue Boulevard


	Decisions, Decisions...


	You're online, and in a chat room, just looking for a good conversation, and then someone starts talking to you. This is exactly what you want. So you talk and talk, and talk...and talk, and before you know it, and about 3:30am, this person becomes "such a nice guy" and you either wait for him to get and send his pic to you or you spend the rest of the night staring at it. If this is the kind of relationship you want, great. A few weeks later, a boy, it could be a friend, all-off-a-sudden looks so much cuter and now, seems to have a greater potential of "such a nice guy". Now you go home and realize you like him. Uh-oh! What about the guy you met online? You don't have to tell him. Should you? It all depends on how you think he'll handle it. You have to decide which one you


	like better. You've known this online guy for, oh a few weeks, your friend, almost a year. Maybe more? The online guy is gay for sure, but you know the boy at school and he does, after all like you as a friend anyway right? But what about the boy online? It's a mess huh? You have to lay out what you like and dislike about the person. Writing it down would be a good idea. Think of the probability of you meeting this online friend, and the probability that the other boy can understand and share your feelings. Evaluate the two and it will be much easier to decide.


	The Stereotype Gay, Fag, Faggot, Homosexual, Queer. What do you think of when you hear these words? Well, when I hear them I think of this weird skinny man around his 20s dressed in a tight turtle neck bean-shaved hair and talks like a teenage girl. Or the thought of a pink-haired, leather-wearing, faggy behaving freak wearing earrings and all walking downtown may also come to mind. But really, we're not sick. Even though I do like boys, I hate referring to myself, or other people, with names like that. (Queer, Fag, and Faggot are out of the question to begin with.) Because those are the people they're trying to describe. Yeah, we're given lots of discriminating names, but do people know what's really in our hearts? They think we're just a bunch of girly-boys who want to act weird for a reason they don't even know. The thing is, we're not gay, we're just boys who like boys. It's not like it's our choice either. If a new term was made to describe that, it would automatically make people think of the descriptions above. Now, only an extremely tiny number of people are just beginning to realize that we're not all that different from the portrayed 'normal' human being. We have thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, goals, just like everyone else. And the only way you could explain the reason why this person acts differently is because that's who they are. This person doesn't have to be gay, in fact, all weird people I know, (other than me) are straight. J Is Weird Bad? Now about this weird thing. Let me tell all of you 'newbies' something. You find out that you like other boys right? That doesn't mean that you are expected to start acting, dressing, talking, or thinking like a girl. I'm not saying it's wrong, and I feel that if someone wants to dress and behave in their own way (as long as it doesn't threaten their's or anyone else's life) then let them. I'm just saying it will probably be a lot harder for you to be accepted socially--for most people anyway. Another thing, and I hate to break it to you, but it's the people who do that stuff and who are extremely open and overstating about themselves who give boys like us a bad name. I hate to say it, but it's true. I in no way intend on this to be something that will turn all "straight-acting", as they say, boys to hate these people because sometimes, people just feel they have to express themselves in an exaggerating way, which may not be the best but if they will it, so be it.

About friends:
Situation 1:
Friend 1: "Oh my g0d, did you see that shirt she was wearing?!"
Friend 2: "Oh yeah!! It was so gay!"

Situation 2:
Friend 1 to Friend 2 at recess playing basketball: "That was a really gay shot."

Situation 3:
After bumping into someone: "You're so gay!"

One large factor in people's thoughts towards boys who like boys, is the improper use of the word "gay". Gay now means; stupid, or pathetic. This was also probably caused by a misunderstanding about the stereotyped gay person.

Whenever I hear someone use that word out of context, I just laugh, but I also know that the more it is used like that, the worse people think of people like us.

I also hear lots of people saying stuff like "I don't know why those people choose to be that way..." I think it's pretty sad that the truth about this, that we're born with it, is not spread thoughout society like this rumour is.

This is more of a serious pet peeve that you really can't do anything about unless you are ready to come out to all of the people who say that, and the majority of the people who are out, are of the stereotyped type, and a person does choose to dress and act that way, so no one will believe them even if they tried.


	The following poem is about friendships between most presumably straight boys in North America. Sports tend to be the bulk of conversation and activity done with boy friends (not boyfriends). I'm not saying that you shouldn't play sports if you want to, you should. I just wrote this poem because of what I see amongst kids in my school, and anywhere.


	ALL SPORTS? Should a friendship be based on sports? I tend to disagree. Because that's not how someone becomes good friends with me. Sure, the game and the score are okay sometimes for a little conversation, But when that's all there is your friendship has lost its relation. You have to be able to communicate And know how you both feel. Being there for eachother is what makes a friendship real.

Fly a letter over here!