Monday, February 2, 2015

Awkward matchmaking and gay friends

One thing I don't really understand is when a straight person finds out someone is gay and says, "Oh, my cousin/brother/friend is gay, too! I should set you up." I know that this doesn't come from a place of hostility. It's out of a desire to be supportive or helpful, but it is a little odd. Nobody has the same reaction when they find out someone is straight; maybe just because it's taken for granted. There are ones who do this with hetero single friends, but it's not as pronounced. Maybe because it's easy for straight individuals to find each other (whether or not they'd be compatible), so friends want to help those with a less common orientation find a match. But it's inaccurate to think two people would click just because they're both the gender the other is interested in. What would indicate that they'd have any other connection? If that's the assumption, it could be due to the (obviously false) belief that most gay people are similar, or that they can't be particular about who they like because they're just happy to find another non-hetero person at all.