30-DAYS PART DEUX

Did anyone remember to watch 30 days last night? This week's episode was about sending an anti-gay dude into Castro, the MOST homosexual area of San Francisco, to stay with a gay dude and live surrounded by it for 30 days.

At first, I thought it was actually going to be a little boring because the guy they were sending appeared at first to be pretty open minded, despite having strong convictions. He actually did have a pretty open mind, but it was far from boring.

I can imagine that being submerged in that environment would be pretty uncomfortable for a straight guy. I'm pretty comfortable with myself in most environments, but that might be a little much even for me. One of the first nights he was there, his host took him to a gay bar and he almost got into a fight. But I think on top of being a little overwhelmed, he felt a little defensive. Should he have?? After all, wasn't he in THEIR club? On THEIR turf? Should a black person feel unwelcome and out of place and defensive being the only black in a club of all white people? Or the only white in an all black club? What about the only cowboy in a city-fied bar? Tough question. Certainly the minority is going to feel a little self concious to begin with. Do the other patrons need to antagonize this insecurity? Perhaps not, but on the other hand perhaps they have the right. Either way it doesn't help their own cause any.

I don't want to write as extensively as I did about the last episode, so I'll cut to the chase. The straight dude did a pretty good job at hanging in there and even learned a thing or two. He was able to make a good friend in the host guy and learn a few things about accepting people who are different. He also was able to see areas where he was holding on to faith based principals, but hypocritical at the same time. One of the turning points was meeting with a group of parents who have gay kids and hearing what they had to say about it all.

In the end, the last few scenes were when he got back home and was showing his parents pictures of his trip. It was easy then to see where he got his basis of judgement as his father had a pretty mortified look on his face. One of great concern that his son had gone to "the other side" -as if being gay was contageous. His son, by the way, was still straight - just with a little less contempt for "alternative lifestyles".

Good show though. I didn't see what next week's show is about, but I'm sure it'll jog the mind.