The Locker Room
A strange thing happened last night. I left work and went to my health club. I did my usual 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, followed by a combination of free weights and resistance training. The whole workout was about 75 minutes.
So afterwards, I go to the locker room. Someone is occupying the locker right next to mine. He was there trying to get dressed for his workout. In the process of this, his stuff was in front of my locker, preventing me from getting to my locker to get undressed. So, I leaned up against the wall to rest while I waited for him to finish up and move.
There were three other men in there with me, in different states of undress. There was an older gentleman in the corner who I would say was in the 60-65 year age range. He was naked and trying to get dressed. All the sudden, he looks right at me and says, “I’ll be God damned! Queers are every fuckin’ place you go!” Everyone got quiet. I looked at him wondering what he was talking about. Then, it hit me, as he was glaring right at me, that he thought I was cruising the guys in the locker room!
It pissed me off. I looked right at him and said, “Listen grandpa, if you were the last man left on the face of this Earth, not gonna happen, not in your wildest dreams, so don’t flatter yourself.”
With that, one man who apparently had no problem with me waiting for my locker started laughing hysterically at what I just said. The older man in the corner stormed out of the locker room cussing.
I undressed, took a shower, and for all the hard work that I just did for a really nice workout, I decided to spend 10 quality minutes in the jacuzzi (a treat to me)! I then took a final shower, dressed, came home and cooked dinner for Kent. But all the while I was doing all of this, my guard was heightened. I wasn’t sure if the guy would try to get some of his goons to work me over after I left the club, or something of that nature. I had to walk a bit to get to my car and during that walk, I was looking everywhere to see if anyone was around. Isn’t it weird? Something like this happens and in the back of your head you wonder if you are going to be the next victim of a hate crime.
On the way home, I was rethinking the whole situation. Here, you have someone who made a wrong assumption, got angry and made a scene, for something that wasn’t even real. Amazing.
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Being an extremely paranoid individual, I'm always looking over my shoulder in parking lots. You can't be too careful these days!
Seriously, though, I applaud your restraint. I don't think I would have been able to control my temper. Being the straight identical twin of a gay man has given me an interesting perspective. Over the years, there have been a few instances of mistaken identity that resulted in this kind of B.S. directed toward me. Thus, I've walked a mile--no, a quarter of a mile in your shoes. I have zero tolerence for open displays of bigotry like that--just like my brother. God, I can't imagine what kind of hell my bro would have unleased on that old geezer! (Actually, it's kind of fun to imagine it!)
I wasn't trying to be mean to him, but he was the one who called me "queer" first. I guess I'm just tired of the crap some people seem to think they can dish out. They send hurtful words my way and try to embarass me, it's just not going to work. I'm not going to let them get away with it.
Jon, you are a hoot!! ;)
Your entry reminded me of a speakers bureau I did a few weeks ago for a college class. They were counselors (in training) and they were asking about higher rates of depression/anxiety in LGBT folks. The answer I gave them was basically the same as your walk to your car, looking over your shoulder. And people wonder why we're neurotic... :)
You handled the situation quite elequently by the way. :)
OMG Bill! That's hilarious! But my response would of been.. "Bitch please! Gays INVENTED locker rooms!" *snap* j/k ;) *hug*
~jon
I agree with Dan about how you handled the situation, Bill. I was actually about to write almost exactly what he wrote, but he beat me to it. :)
How come it's always the ugly old men that walk around naked in the locker rooms?
You handled yourself very well Bill. Your response was actually polite and not too offensive.
Dan