22. I got felt up by one of the original Village People.
“I got felt up by one of the original Village People.
This was in my Midwesterner-in-NYC party crashing phase, where I would attach myself to groups of prettier (and richer people going to clubs in the Meatpacking District. By getting in with a gaggle of women and finance bros, I could get in without paying a cover charge. Once you’re in, it’s just a matter of making friends with someone getting table service and you can drink for free all night.
Anyways, I had separated from my group and gotten behind the rope. I plopped down on a nice couch for a breather and this dude sat down with me. He was wearing a black leather cowboy outfit, bedazzled chaps and everything. I gave him the side eye and he looked back at me and said, “Yes. Yes I am.”
I was very confused, but didn’t say anything and he continued. “I’m the real one. The cowboy from the Village People.”
It was loud and I was a bit drunk, so I pantomimed YMCA. He laughed and called over a waitress and ordered a bottle of something clear. He and I drank it and he told me stories about life in the NYC scene, back in the day. I worked with HIV patients at the time, so he talked to me about what it was like when all his friends were dying and they didn’t know why, except that everyone knew it was their fault. I talked about the research I was helping with, exploring the immune system’s ability to find and exploit relatively static vital epitopes.
At that point, it was about 3-4AM and I had consumed about a fifth of watered down club vodka. I wished him a good night and got up to go.
Then I felt his hand, cupping my ass and turning me around. He stood up, pulled close, and whispered in my ear, “Give me a call if you ever want to party…” as he wrote down his phone number on his card. Slipped into my pocket and I went home.
23. Held hands with a man while flying kites.
“Well now, this is totally not gay at all but I was visiting my good friend’s ancestral village in North India, this is not a place westerners tend to visit (I am born and raised NYC USA) I was almost an instant celeb and knowledge of my arrival preceded me, so I of course took care to be respectful and aware of local customs during my 1 week stay. I knew beforehand to touch the feet of my elders, especially my friend’s family elders- whose house I stayed in. I knew certain dress and other “codes” of conduct were in order and I was cool with it all.
Now I’m from a sort of macho Latin background and even though I am liberal and open minded it was really difficult the first time one of the grown men from the village ran up alongside me and held my hand to take me somewhere. Like I could hardly make eye contact for a few seconds.
There I am getting out of a rickshaw heading to a dosa house and meeting one of my friend’s cousins , when Sagar a probably 40-year-old guy, meets me on the corner Locks pinkies with me and starts smiling and nodding in a very heterosexual way.
Was weird but the good kind of weird. The I’m learning something and experiencing something nobody from my family has ever experienced kind of weird. 10/10 would hold hands with Sagar again.
Oh, and we flew kites …which also seems a bit gay while you’re doing it. . . when you hold another guys hand .and fly a kite together you have to be comfortable with your sexuality lol.”
