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The Saturday night of Judy's visit, I took her to Christopher Street. She had expressed an interest in meeting some of my friends, and also seeing what a gay bar looks like. From the first time that Judy found out (realized) that I was gay, she had been supportive, but also curious. Maybe Judy might have thought back to experiences in her own life or people she'd met that might have led her to want to know more about what we gays folks do meet people (hard to do no matter what orientation you are).

Christopher Street is a typical, low-key "meet and converse" kind of bar; it is relatively quiet (not to say that the din of conversation and clinking glasses doesn't get fairly loud on a Saturday night. The men (and a few women) here are usually just out with their friends or by themselves, and having a drink among people like yourself is a common motif. Don't think that the stereotypical biker bars, leather bars, and cowboy bars are all there are; most places we go are not so narrowly focused. The folks here are basically just conversing with each other; they are either friends already, or are sharing stories with the intention of making new ones. True, there may be a a fair number of "hookups" being accomplished on any given night, but I would say that the majority of guys and gals end up going home with the folks they came with. I, myself, have been here a number of times- sometimes with my friends, sometimes by myself. I have met a good many interesting people here, but certainly haven't "hooked up" with all or even most of them.

Judy didn't seem apprehensive at all, and was eager to see what it was like.

We took a seat on one of the raised benches in back and just watched the flow of the people in the room. Judy had a lot of questions about a lot of things, and I tried to answer them as best I could. She seemed to be intrigued with what was going on. I don't think that she ever spent any time in places like this trying to meet men; she and Bob had met through a college friend and had gotten married pretty soon after.

I think maybe a lot of married folks got hitched pretty quickly, and maybe it's common for them to wonder what it might have been like to spend more time looking around or having other experiences. Judy asked me to point out men in the crowd that were interesting to me; I guess she was trying to figure out what type of man attracted me, as she had never met any of my friends. Steve Goldberg was there, and I introduced the two of them, and Kurt came to meet us, and Judy thought he was nice too.

All in all, it was an interesting evening. I think Judy was able to correct some of her misunderstandings about the gay community, and perhaps realize that it is not that different from any other.

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