You're Hella Gay, I'm Hella Str8

Grrarrgh

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I thought I'd drop by a bit of cheery news. I don't really have any commentary, other than to say stories like this give me some hope for humanity.

http://www.newnownext.com/straight-high-schooler-invites-gay-best-friend-to-the-prom/04/2015/

It’s prom season, so we expected to read a lot of stories about lonely teenagers asking celebrities to be their dates.

What we didn’t expect is the totally awesome Jacob Lescenski of Las Vegas to ask his best friend Anthony Martinez to prom.
 
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Maryn

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And this is part of why I like teenagers, despite the bad things that come packaged with being a teen. That's awesome!
 

regdog

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When a parent knows they raised their kid right.
 

Usher

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Friendship is fab! I've still got the same friends I had back in high school and they're all even better than they were then.

Teenagers are great and I get so annoyed when people go on about children today having no respect.

The children I know have a greater level of respect for everyone than any previous generation. They're as a group more amazing than not.
 
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i have belonged to a lot of forums over the years, but I've never seen one as obsessed with gays and transgendered people as this one is.
 

Diana Hignutt

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i have belonged to a lot of forums over the years, but I've never seen one as obsessed with gays and transgendered people as this one is.

Well, I think you'll find that writers as a general rule tend to be smart, compassionate, empathetic, and socially liberal (most of our P&CE conservatives are shockingly liberal on many social issues). And this is a writer's forum. I wouldn't think it would be surprising nor note-worthy. YMMV.

It's a great story, Grrarrgh. Thanks for posting it.
 

Williebee

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i have belonged to a lot of forums over the years, but I've never seen one as obsessed with gays and transgendered people as this one is.

Filter Bubbles are an interesting thing, at least to me. (I've been researching and presenting educational talks on them for about five years now.)

In short, we (generic) think we "know" what the people around us, both on the internet and off, think or believe. Truth is, we have our interests, and our circle of friends. What we see & hear on the internet and our daily lives comes to us pre-filtered by our sources of information and their sources of information -- naturally shaped by our mutual interests.

On the internet that filtering gets assisted by algorithms and marketing -- tools specifically designed to make it easier to find things relevant to our immediate interests. For example - when we want the movie showtimes, we want the times for the theaters closest to us. Often that results in us attending movies at that theater, and has the side effect of not knowing what the other theaters are like, what the audiences are like, what the conversations in lines are like, or what the "fair" price of snacks is at the counter.

Our definitions and descriptions of things like "popular", "obsessed" and "a lot" become skewed by our own self-interests and beliefs. It can also inflate or deflate our sense of self worth.

We can pop the bubble, but it takes work and active interest in things outside our comfort zones.

A little light reading and a Ted Talk.
 
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Lyv

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Filter Bubbles are an interesting thing, at least to me. (I've been researching and presenting educational talks on them for about five years now.)
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Thanks for the links. I'm reading up now. Interesting!

I saw this story a few days ago and couldn't stop smiling. Such a change from when I was in high school. What great kids!
 

Celia Cyanide

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This was a very nice thing for him to do. I always hear about gay guys taking their female friends to the prom so that they have dates. How nice of a straight guy to do the same favor for a gay friend!
 

KimJo

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For my 19-year-old's senior prom in 2013, she didn't have a date. Meanwhile, her best friend wanted to take his boyfriend, but the school administration wouldn't approve it. (The boyfriend had graduated from a different high school two years earlier, and all people who weren't currently attending my kid's high school had to be approved.)

So my 19-year-old took the boyfriend as *her* date, her best friend, "officially", went dateless, and everything worked out.

I'm impressed that not only did this boy ask his best guy friend to be his date, but that the school is accepting it--and that the boys' other friends seem to be supporting it (at least based on the photo I saw on Facebook).
 

LittlePinto

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I took one of my friends to prom because no one asked her to go. A parent kicked up a fuss when we arrived because I had bought a couple's ticket (cheaper than two singles) and we were both women, so clearly we couldn't be a couple. :sarcasm She backed down when I pointed out that there were no restrictions on what a couple was.

Anyway, that was the only time someone challenged the idea. In future years a lot of people who were good friends but not in romantic relationships took each other to prom. Part of it was for the fun of having someone to go with and part of it was to save money.
 

darkprincealain

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I don't know what the policy is now, but at my school back in the day, you had to have a date to prom or you couldn't go. It was the one dance that you couldn't attend stag. Which always struck me as odd and potentially problematic. I mean, it's prom. Who wants to be remembered as the school that was potentially a fun vacuum for the end of your senior year?
 

Vince524

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I went with this girl, she was the daughter of a friend of my mom's. I'd had a crush on for some time, but she had a boyfriend, plus I didn't have the guts to ask her out. Then a few months before prom, they broke up. I waited about a month or so to make sure they didn't get back together and then I finally asked to her prom. (Took me more than an hour to get up the nerve to call her.)

She said YES!!!

I remember being very excited. I paid for the limo, a corsage, my tux, the tickets, and everything except her dress.

Then a week before prom, she got back together with him. As it was too late for me to get another date, she still went with me, but she wore his ring on a chain around her neck and used every payphone in sight to call him periodically. She wouldn't dance with me, because her boyfriend didn't want her to. Plus, there was a priest that we'd both known for years heard we were going together. He thought it was cute. Her mom worked in the Rectory, so she gave her "Ice Cream Money" so after the prom, we could get an ice cream cone, which I thought was very sweet of him. I found out about this an hour before I was to do a mass with him. (I was an altar boy.) Never saw the money or the ice cream. Thankfully, her mom reminded me to thank Father Murphy, which I did.

Over all, it wasn't a great night.