Read Online GAY REALITY : THE TEAM GUIDO STORY by John Chaffetz - Free Book Online Page B

is going to be able to tell you if you are gay, straight, or bisexual. Each person needs to come to their own understanding about that. As a guide toward that, think about several things: How long have you had these feelings? A long time, or are they new? Do you hardly ever think about guys, or do you think about them a lot? How do your attractions towards guys compare to those you have towards girls?
• Just about all experts believe that being gay or bisexual is just as normal for some people as being straight is normal for others. Being gay may not be as common, but it is just as normal.
• Experts believe that one’s sexual orientation, no matter what it is, is usually something that develops either before we are born, or within the first few years of our lives. It is not something one makes a ‘decision’ about. People don’t decide to be gay, or decide to be straight. We are whatever we are.
• Unfortunately some religions do not understand that being gay is very normal for some people. You should know that many Catholic people are gay. You can be a good Catholic and be gay. There is a national organization called Dignity that is just for gay Catholics. Another organization that can help you is called PFLAG: Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
    Within days Erik sent a follow-up note to Bill and Joe thanking them for their reference. Although he was appreciative it was apparent that he wasn’t buying into the pre-determination of one’s sexual orientation. Several times he once again wrote of his difficulty in deciding “whether to be straight or gay”. Near the end Erik wrote, “I feel like a weirdo, all messed up in my head about my sexuality. Everyone else has themselves all straightened out.” It was quite apparent that Erik was far from resolving his sexual identity.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR  
    AT LEAST one Team Guido fan became so enraged by a USA Today negative column on his favorites, that he fired off a response in the form of a Letter to the Editor. It said in part:
    “I would like to take umbrage with your back page snippet on Team Guido. Your television critic wrote that at first they were amusing, but now they are obnoxious. I take exception to the notions that either is correct.
    “There was a time, a generation or two ago, when people laughed at ‘Amos and Andy’, but today the laughter has stopped. If any other married couple had decided to wear matching outfits, no one would have laughed. What is different for two people who have loved each other for almost 16 years as compared to any of the straight couples? The difference is that they happen to be gay. Hence, they are acceptable targets for the chides and jokes.
    “Is your writer offended (after all he wrote that ‘We need to be spared from the obnoxious Team Guido’) because we have yet to see Bill and Joe hold hands and skip to the welcome mat at the various destinations, while singing show tunes?
    “Team Guido is an easy target because they are ‘evil gay men’. Well, I have been in touch with Team Guido and they have become heroes to me, a gay teen in a rural area of an Eastern State. They are far from the annoying malcontents that you would have your readers believe.”
    And the reaction of Team Guido to being made the Race “villains”? Bill summed it up with, “Joe had a great quote for this question: ‘The camera never lies, but editing tells its own story’.”

JOE—THE MAGIC  
    AS WE sit at a poolside table, I ask Joe to tell me what makes Team Guido work so well.
    “Not too much bugs me about Bill. He likes things to go his way, but don’t we all? We fought about wearing matching outfits during the Race and he won out. He doesn’t win all the time, but neither do I.
    “Our relationship carried us very far on the Race. We were aware of other contestants bickering and even fighting. We prepared in advance, I’d take care of the money and Bill would work on ‘reading’ people. It was comforting