Gay alumni

[DTD Alum]

I always thought an interesting way to sort of "expose" the privilege is to take a day and mentally count every time you see or hear something that is definitively about straight relationships/sexuality (a magazine ad, a commercial, lyrics to a song, a co-worker talking about a date using gendered pronouns, a couple holding hands, etc) and then compare it to the number of times you see/hear something comparable about gay relationships/sexuality. Once you realize that 99.999999% of the things you'll witness/hear in a given day are specifically about heterosexual relationships, it gives a little insight as to how a gay man or woman simply saying something as innocent as "Oh, I went on a great date last night with this guy" is viewed as flaunting your sexuality or making a statement.

I always thought it was interesting that one ostensibly gay "thing" (for example, a commercial with a gay couple) is often criticized by the masses as being "too much"/"we don't need to see that!" and over the top, whereas gay men and women could easily be subjected to hundreds of comparable commercials and ads featuring straight relationships in a given day. And then you wonder why gay youth feel abnormal even if their family/friends accept them...it can be hard to already feel different and then see dozens (if not hundreds) of references to the "normal" sexuality in a given day, while seeing none that represent your views. It can be very isolating.