“Wait, are they, you know, like, straight?” Felix whispers as he points to the man and woman holding hands across the street.
“They might be I’m not sure. But it would be kind of weird to walk up to a person and ask, right?” Blake eyes the couple up and down, like so many other gay couples have done before.
“I mean, maybe a little. I’d probably just walk away, but if you think it’s fine, I guess you could,” Felix responded hesitantly. He’s typically not a person who enjoys confrontation.
“Oh, well, I mean, they’re holding hands so I guess we could ask,” Blake says shrugging his shoulders.
The couple walks over to the Felix and Blake. Felix grimaces, concerned they’ll want to push their lifestyle on them.
“I was wondering if you knew if there was a good ice cream shop nearby. We’re walking over to a friend’s house but since it’s so hot outside we wanted to cool off with some ice cream on the way,” Brad says. He can tell from their scanning, that asking them could lead to a slightly uncomfortable interaction. As he glances over at Brittany, still holding her hand, he notices the shift in her demeanor. Her grip on his hand tightens, her eyebrows furrow, her jaw clenches, her lips press together, her shoulders creeping towards her ears. Brad looks at her, and can’t help but think how gorgeous she is, even now, in this bizarre heat and incredibly awkward situation. He snaps out of his trance, as one of the other men clears their throat. Knowing the tension that can arise from their heterosexual relationship, Brad focuses on the ‘normal’ couple.
“We were just on our way for some ice cream ourselves. We can show you where we’re headed if you’d like,” Felix says, jokingly nudging Blake. They both begin to smile for a moment, then fade as they notice the other couple sharing a similar loving gaze.
The pairs meander along the sidewalk. An awkward silence clouds between them, an invisible barrier blocking any understanding from the gay couple.
“What are your names?” Brittany says, dissipating the silence.
“I’m Felix and this is my partner Blake. What about you two?” Felix responds curtly, trying to be polite but not wanting to start a full-on conversation.
“I’m Brittany, and this is my boyfriend, Brad,” Brittany says, seeing the ice cream shop that marks the end of this painful tiptoe around confrontation. As she plays what she said over and over in her head, questioning herself constantly, she realizes it may have been too upfront to call Brad her boyfriend. She’s known from many past experiences, that being upfront with having a boyfriend can be taken as being forcefully straight. Pushy even.
She takes another glance over at Felix and Blake enjoying their ice cream, trying to put them out of her mind to enjoy a nice outing with Brad. When they get their ice cream, Brittany holds out a spoon for Brad, mounding with the first bite. He attempts to fit it all in his mouth, but Brittany moves it slightly so some smears on his face. She giggles and reaches over to wipe the mess off his cheek.
“Come on, het, can’t you save that for straight pride day?” Blake startles them with his first comment. He looks at their faces, cheeks flushed and sweating, unable to tell if it was from heat or nerves.
“Hey, look, it’s not that we’re heterophobic, but can’t you just save it for your home?” Felix jumps in, hoping this would be the end of the disturbing display of heterosexual activity.
“We’re not trying to interrupt your outing, we just wanted to cool off.” Brad looked over at Brittany. She knew what the look meant. His green eyes full of concern, his eyebrows arched with uncertainty, chewing his lip as his anxiety begins to roar. She felt the same concern, knowing these people weren’t about to leave them alone. They were heterophobes, who thought they were simply defending their ‘values.’
“I just don’t want you to push your sexuality onto our children. We don’t want them to be influenced by the wrong type of people. You understand that, don’t you?” Blake smirked with his eyebrows raised. He knew he was provoking them. It was fun for him. They have to know that this could happen and are bursting with pride about their relationship anyway. Plus, if they were so open about their ‘love,’ they should be able to handle a few comments about it. People do it all the time, so why couldn’t he?
“You people always walk around preaching about how your God thinks our love is a sin. But somehow you always seem to forget the part where you’re told to love thy neighbor as yourself. You’re just using your so-called religious values as an excuse for your bigotry.” Brittany knew this would only cause more conflict, but she was sick of people telling her who she should be. All she could think about was the time her father brought her to a camp that would smooth her out. She sat in her room, every trace of attractive men trying to be hidden away from her, like a drug they thought would kill her. She would listen to a priest tell her that her ‘lifestyle’ was sinful, that she would go to hell for who she loved. Even after the torture he put her through, he hasn’t spoken a word to her since.
            “Who do you think you are to tell me how to practice my religion? I bet you hate God for making you mentally disturbed enough to love the opposite sex? You’re just resentful that you have such unnatural urges.” This time it’s Felix jumping in. He’s genuinely angry that someone would dare tell him how to feel, as if he hasn’t been doing the same to every straight person he sees.
            “Let me guess, you also think that we shouldn’t be able to have our own children?” Brad knows he can’t stay out of it now. He can handle some ignorance here and there, but this, this was more than that. This was outright hatred. He could see it in their eyes. Felix staring into their souls, as if trying to push them into to hell himself. Blake with a smirk and spark in his eyes, not realizing what he says is deeply offensive. “I bet you think if we raised our own child, we would corrupt his mind, brainwash him into being straight, and would cause him trauma when people find out that he has both a mom and a dad. Well, let me tell you this: it doesn’t matter if I’m gay, straight, or bisexual, or any other sexuality for that matter. If I love my children and raise them with the morality and compassion to understand and accept others’ differences, they will grow up to be a better person than you could ever dream of being.” Brad looks like he is about to burst, his self-doubt, anger, anxiety, fears, all about to erupt all over the room.  
            “You think a heterosexual relationship is a just a small difference? Who are you kidding? It’s not like being rich or poor, black or white. It’s an abomination. You think you’re so moral, then how could you dare forget that it’s Adam and Steve not Adam and Eve.”