Last night I went out to the local gay bar (yes, THE local gay bar.  Eugene, Oregon only has one).  I was dancing with a friend, and I asked him if he’s been to one of the other dance clubs in town.  The one I was asking about is bigger, has a bigger dance floor, more bartenders, and no cover.  Oh, and it’s a “straight” bar, which I thought was irrelevant.  My friend, on the other hand, seemed to see this as a fatal flaw.  His response was “Yeah, I’ve been there, but it’s too straight.”
“Too straight?” I asked.
“Yeah, too many straight people.”

I was pretty aggravated. I’ve heard this sort of thing before. It is precisely one of the reasons I don’t identify with the whole “gay scene.” It’s so separationist, and it drives me crazy. It seems like many gay people are so caught up in being gay that they forget to just be people. What’s wrong with straight people? I don’t have a problem with straight people. Saying a bar is “too straight” reminds me of someone saying “that’s gay” when they think something is stupid or saying Barack Obama isn’t “black enough.” Why, in the 21st century, are we still dividing ourselves based on these stupid labels?

I totally understand the point of having gay bars…it’s nice having somewhere to go to meet other queer people and whatnot, but I think it’s a sad state of affairs when I don’t see any of those people at any of the other “straighter” bars around town. It seems like now we expect straight people to be accepting of us, but not vice versa. We hear a lot about homophobia these days, but what about the opposite? Heterophobia, I guess you could call it. I assert that it’s there, floating around the country’s gay bars and hangout spots. It’s not as common or as dangerous as homophobia by any means, but it’s just as much of a barrier to gay rights as homophobia is. The whole goal of the gay rights movement is to be accepted into society for who we are. So why are separating ourselves from the very society we want to be accepted into? Come on, people.