When did you choose to be straight?

“When did you choose to be straight?” This is actually a question that I keep in reserve in case somebody learns about my sexual orientation and reacts negatively by saying that being gay is a choice. Thankfully, I have never had the chance to use this question. So it was pretty awesome seeing the video above where this question was thrown back at people who believe that homosexuality is a choice. The video shows that you can actually disarm people by making them see your point of view.

Of course human psychology being what it is, I do think that for some people, being gay may have indeed been a conscious decision. But as you readers have long realized, sexual attraction is involuntary—you don’t have any say at all on whether you get physically attracted to men or women or both. Thus, I believe that for the vast majority of gay people, they’re born that way. Simply put, why on earth would many rational gay people choose to be gay when being gay would subject oneself to discrimination, bullying, and being ostracized? It makes no sense at all. Unfortunately, some bigots lack sense.

If there is any conscious decision, it is the one on self-acceptance. I had an inkling I was gay back in Grade 6 when I started becoming attracted to some of my male schoolmates. But it was only in my Junior year in high school that I finally accepted the fact that I was gay and that there was nothing I can do about it.

Another conscious decision is acting on our homosexual nature. Catholic teaching does acknowledge that gay people may be gay by nature, but the Church exhorts gay people to live a celibate life. I don’t think that makes any sense too. If you’re naturally gay, why suppress it? As long as you live a positive live and don’t hurt anyone, why does it matter that you kiss, enter into relationships, and marry people of the same sex?

So, when did you choose to be accept that you are gay?

The Onion’s Olympic Village Tour

During the London Summer Olympics (the XXXth ), I blogged about an ESPN article that talked about how much sex is going on among athletes at the Olympics.

For this year’s Sochi Winter Olympics, leave it to satirical The Onion to take this tale of Olympic orgy to a whole new level with the following (definitely NSFW) “news clip” (delivered straight-faced) about the sex-friendly facilities of the Olympic Village in Sochi.

I have to give them bonus points for “interviewing” a “Canadian” biathlon while he was taking it from behind from another male “athlete,” in defiance of the homophobic Russian government ban on gay propaganda. Hehehe.

For some bit of real news, the condom count for this year’s athletic event is 100,000, which is understandably less than the 150,000 condoms procured for the London Olympics since there are fewer athletes. But at around 2,800 athletes converging on Sochi, that comes to around 35 condoms per person. You think that’s too much?

Geography Club is a must-see

It’s quite rare that a foreign gay-themed indie film gets to have a regular screening in local cinemas (outside of film festival events). And whenever one appears, I try to catch it because the local gay indie movie industry is such a huge disappointment. Foreign gay films that I’ve managed to see in local cinemas include Boy Culture, Adam & Steve, and Gay Sex in the 70s. Now I’m adding Geography Club to that list.

Based on Brent Hartinger’s critically-acclaimed novel of the same title, Geography Club is a coming-of-age high school comedy film about a group of closeted gay and lesbian teens who form an after-school-hours “Geography Club” as a support group and to share experiences. They figure that nobody would mind since geography is a boring subject. But of course, things don’t turn out as they planned.

The film’s protagonist is Russell (Cameron Deane Stewart), a fairly attractive and smart guy who’s unsure of his sexuality. He is chased by girls but eventually found himself when he entered into a secret relationship with the school’s quarterback, Kevin (Justin Deeley). Unfortunately, Kevin tries to keep everything on the down-low as he aims for a college football scholarship. Russell struggles with his problems and finds solace in the aforementioned Geography Club.

The film tackles themes of coming out, bullying, peer pressure, and social acceptance. While those seem like heavy topics, the film actually is pretty light and explores the idea that being gay is becoming not a big deal anymore. I also liked how the movie tackled bullying by presenting one of the films most moving characters, Brian, portrayed wonderfully by Teo Olivares. I actually found the film quite refreshing, although I was a bit surprised at the movie’s abrupt ending. I’ve read reviews saying that while the movie is OK, the book is even better. So I’m looking forward to reading it (if I can find it).

Anyway, what I really loved about this film were the very tender kissing scenes between Russell and Kevin. While there are no bed scenes or anything of that sort, seeing two good-looking guys sharing intimate kisses made watching the movie worth my while.

6 years

Six years ago today, I published the very first post here on Discreet Manila. So this blog turns 6 years old today. Yay!

Looking back at the pageview statistics, it is apparently my article about South Bay City Spa that is the most-viewed, getting more than twice as many views as the next most popular article. It is also the article with the most number of comments. Interesting.

Here’s to more years of Discreet Manila!