Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“It matters,” Bill said slowly, like he was talking to someone who had trouble understanding obvious concepts. “Because with everyone in the LGBT-rights community working hard to pass equality laws and win court cases, people don’t appreciate being mocked or—”
“Nobody is mocking anyone,” Reggie barked.
Ignoring him, Bill continued, his voice louder. “Or having someone send a message that people can suddenly choose to be gay.” He took in a deep breath. “Think this through, Reggie. The corollary to snapping your fingers and saying ‘I’m gay’ is doing the opposite—snapping your fingers and saying ‘I’m straight’ or maybe going to one of those reprogramming places or marrying a person of the opposite sex or whatever else people claim cures homosexuality.”
Bill’s rant made sense, and Reg was busy processing it, so he didn’t respond. The lack of argument seemed to calm Bill down. He lowered his voice and continued.
“If you can choose to be gay, you can choose to be straight, and I’m sure you can understand how problematic that concept is for people who devote their lives to this work. They don’t need the world’s most well-known musician undermining their cause.”
Collapsing onto the couch, Reg rubbed his hand over the back of his head. He understood Bill’s point. Realizing you were gay often came with an initial desire to change it. For some people, that lasted longer than for others. And then there were the well-intentioned and not-so-well-intentioned family members who insisted being gay was a curable affliction.
Reg had been lucky. His bouts of confusion and self-doubt over who he was had been short-lived. Though he’d had a grandfather who likely would have had some choice words for him, he had passed several years before Reg came out. The rest of his family—his mother, his brother and sister-in-law, and his grandmother—had never turned their backs on him or belittled him. He’d lost some friends around the time he had come out, but it was the summer after high school ended, which was a time when people drifted apart anyway. So from a young age Reg had been in the “I didn’t choose to be gay, I just got lucky” camp.
But the fact that his life had been relatively pain free didn’t mean he wasn’t aware that the opposite was true all too often. He had known guys in college whose parents cut them off, financially and in other ways. He had heard stories about teasing, sometimes leading to physical attacks. He had even known of a guy who had hanged himself in his dorm room because, according to his suicide note, his life wasn’t worth living if he couldn’t be straight.
“I hear you, man,” Reg said. “I get what you’re saying.”
“Good. So you’ll give Jeremy the phone, and I can—”
“No.”
This time, Bill’s sigh was decidedly annoyed. “We just went over this. The gay story isn’t going to fly. We need to do damage control, and the first step is me figuring out what Jeremy’s trying to accomplish. Then I need to conjure a plausible explanation for how the whole thing with you was misinterpreted. I have some ideas about that, and I need to discuss them with Jeremy.”
“No.”
“Reggie—”
“Let me finish.” Reg held his arm out in a “stop” motion even though Bill couldn’t see him. “I understand what you mean. Believe me, I understand. But Jeremy isn’t out there screaming from the rooftops about his personal life. Those reporters and photographers want a story, so they ask every question under the sun, including things people wouldn’t be bold enough to ask their best friends, and then they print the answers. Do you really think it’s fair that he has to change his life to accommodate them? Isn’t who he dates his business and nobody else’s?”
“I’ll answer that with a word you seem to understand well: no.”
“No?” Reg asked in surprise.
“Jeremy has chosen to lead a public life. He put himself in the spotlight. Like it or not, that position comes with the fact that people he’ll never meet feel entitled to know everything about him and weigh in on it.”
“But it’s his life.”
“Yes, it’s his life. But it’s also a public life.”
“So he can’t be gay because he’s famous? That’s your advice?”
“You know that’s not what I’m saying.”
“It’s exactly what you’re—”
“Jeremy Jameson being gay isn’t the issue. I’ve spent the past couple of months managing that concept, and I’ve done a damn good job of it. The issue is him pretending to be gay.”
“And you think he’s pretending because of the source.”
“I think he’s pretending because I know him, and, frankly, if he was actually into men, he wouldn’t be with you.”
“Uh, I’ll have you know I’m a pretty good catch, dude.”
Chuckling, Bill said, “I have no doubt. But I’ve met Jeremy’s exes, so I know what kind of women he likes. They’re smaller than him, softer, more pliant. They’re in the industry, so they understand his life. And they don’t call him dude.”