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Originally Posted by Psycho Dad
That is something that I wonder about from time to time. The Scene. So often one hears it called that and I have to wonder how accurate the portrayal of the scene is in movies and other media. We seem to see everything from “The Blue Oyster Bar” part of Police Academy to the bar scenes in Queer as Folk.
I just about have to suspect that clubs like that exist, or are at least embellished in movies and on TV, but I can’t imagine any of the gay people I know being a part of any of that. The gay people I know just seem like people who enjoy pretty much the same things I do except their sexual preferences. I live in an area where the nearest gay bar if there is one is an hour drive. I really have no way to see for myself.
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There are extremes like the leather bar you see in
Police Academy, and there are more casual atmospheres that are basically just a regular bar or disco that happens to be frequented by chiefly gays. I think the extreme versions are likely more common at gay bars than at regular ones, but there is a good variance. One of the misconceptions about gay bars is that everyone in one is going to be gay, and that if a straight person goes into one, he/she'll be hit on all night long and there'll be a lot of hostility towards this straight person on "our turf". Not true. I suspect straight men would tend to be uncomfortable in a place aimed at gay guys, but you're going to find a good number of straight women who just happen to hang out with gay guys. Lesbian bars tend to be a bit more . . . subdued, casual, and most of the women wouldn't mind if a straight girl were to come in. Straight guys would be taking a bit more of a risk.
A drag club, like the ones we liked to go to occasionally back in California, has a good mix of people, gay and straight alike, and attracts a lot of straight guys.
A lot of straight guys.
So yeah, the stuff you see there exists, and is more common in gay bars than straight bars, but it's far from the only thing you'll see. There's a big range.
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And then there are the images that the media seems to show from gay rights protests and parades. Are these images and the scenes from TV and film a fair portrayal or senseless stereotypes? I imagine more the latter than the former but I honestly don’t know.
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Here's how it works, for the most part. It's like a comic book convention or the St. Patrick's day parade in Chicago. You might have 10,000 people acting like reasonable people and 20 people who fit the extreme stereotype, and those 20 will get all the coverage.
Sure, there wouldn't be those people to cover if they weren't there, and there are going to be events that are more extreme than others, and some are going to be populated by a large number of extremists, who are more likely to be attracted to such events.
It's a big variation from the mundane to the extreme, but for the most part, onlyt the extreme gets coverage.
When I think of the homosexual lifestyle, I get the image of a college professor and a nurse living quietly in an upscale condo, but, hey, that's just me.
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BTW, this thread is amazing. I’ve read where you have posted before about Sissy and assumed that she was your lesbian sister. I had no idea that she was a transsexual. More importantly I (and I imagine many others) knew very little of the information you have shared here. Not only are you obviously important to your sister and Grace, but you are an asset to the TFP. 
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Thank you. I'm glad it's been helpful.
Gilda