Re: [Paddlewise] Gay bladers

Interesting this matter of gay kayakers should come up now. During last 
week's disscussion of solo or non-solo paddling, I mentioned I'd done a 
longish trip with a woman whose own partner was not into as hardcore trips 
as she was. One paddlewiser commented to me off-list:

>My wife, who is not a very insecure or jealous person,
>would never feel comfortable if I were to go on a several-day trip with
>another woman

I replied:
I've worked for a large retailer of outdoor recreational equipment 
(including sea kayaking gear) for more than a decade, and I know that our 
internal company culture is a bit different than that of the world at large. 
Our company culture is such that employees of both genders and both gender 
preferences mix and match to go on trips, choosing one another on the basis 
of skill, compatibilty, and ability. In this environment, going touring with 
someone does not neccessarily imply you're sleeping with them. When I met my 
wife a few years ago, it did take her awhile to be convinced that there was 
such a thing as "platonic touring" with some one of the opposite sex.

>even if the "other woman" had a life partner of her same sex.

In this instance, I wasn't using "life partner" as a coded way of 
identifying my paddling partner as a lesbian. In fact, her "life partner" is 
male. However, I do lots of trips with gay or bisexual men or women. I enjoy 
the pleasure of their company on the water and on the beach, not in my 
sleeping bag. Now, when I go on kayaking trips with my wife...

(A few years back I did a trip with a very attractive, feminine gay woman 
(the sort sometimes referred to as a "lipstick lesbian"). Not until after 
the trip did I discover that my wife (at the time we were not yet married) 
had been unware of this woman's orientation, and had been stewing in 
jealousy the whole time!

Philip Torrens
N49°16' W123°06'

PS: there's a gay hiking club here in Vancouver with a great name: "Out and 
About".

>From: Sandykayak_at_aol.com

>It seems that macho men are terrified of being seduced by gay men.  How 
>come
>feminine women don't go around being scared of being seduced by lesbians?
>Have you ever heard a woman go on and on ad nauseum about gays?
>
>Sandy Kramer
>mom to a dynamite young man who happens to be gay!


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