I'm appalled at the number of people calling the three guys in the truck stupid or small-minded, etc. How do you know that? I guess it's easy to insult people you don't know.
If Jake is visibly, proudly, recently out in a small town, likely it is his most obvious distinguishing feature at this point.
When I first came out, Jake, that was the most important thing about me. It took the attention of national media (being fired by cracker barrell, and then appearing on Oprah), and being thrust into the vanguard of the civil rights movement, before I though to step back and realize that I didn't want to live my entire life as if being Gay were the only thing of any importance to me.
Particularly, though, when we are surrounded by morons who have really narrow views about what being gay "means," it is important to let them know that we, too, are gay, and that yes, we, too, pull our pants on one leg at the time as well. Particularly if we are to any degree 'noble in reason' and wish to make a positive change in our environment. This is why I take EXTREME exception (begging yer pardon, strat) to this quote:
I don't think coming out is of much benefit to people who live in small towns, unless they like to be rediculed or thumped on.
SOME of us take the ridiculing and the thumping because we realize that if we also do good works, sooner or later someone else will join the struggle in our defense, often someone who would never have thought of themselves as an advocate for gay rights.
I imagine, Jake, since you didn't seem to be too threatened by the guys in the tonka
-)) truck, that you are just now having that experience of "y'know, I'm a pretty complex person, and there's stuff about me that's WAAAAY cooler than the fact that I like to fuck guys. I want people to know THAT stuff." Congratulations, and welcome to the human race.
In this instance, I liken the coming out process to a wave, and you have reached the crest of it. While we are in the closet, there's all this tension and buildup, and when we finally do come out, we're on top of the wave and we just kind of ride it for a while. After a bit, we decide it's time to do something else with our lives besides being terminally "coming out."
MattieMich sort of hit the nail on the head here:
What else would you want them to know you as? Do you play sports? Are you in a band? Are you part of the student council? What do you want to be known as and what can you do to make them see that?
But don't blame yourself if after developing further aspects of your personhood, there are still people who will only ever see you as the "gay guy" THEN (and only then) are you justified in thinking of them as "that stupid guy" or "that narrow-minded guy"
