In or Out?

Hiding in the closet must be as terrible as coming out, especially when someone who possesses the so-called “gay radar” does it for you before a worldwide audience. In the 1997 comedy, “In and Out”, Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline), a popular and well-loved rural high school teacher, discovered this shred of truth when his life is turned upside down after a former student, Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon), expressed effusive praise for his ex-mentor in his Oscar Awards for Best Actor acceptance speech before he dropped the bomb: Howard is gay! By the way, Cameron Drake had to beat Steven Seagal, whose chances of winning an Oscar is as dim as Osama bin Laden winning the Nobel Peace Prize, for the Best Actor plum, so the fictional line-up of nominees should not be taken seriously. And Cameron’s film is a spoof of “Forrest Gump”, while Steven’s entry is more hilarious, “Snowball in Hell.”
Like a pack of wolves smelling blood, the press descended on their little town to get Howard’s side. Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), an out-and-out gay journalist, lingers in the town after his colleagues left for other “interesting human stories”, i.e. scandals. He badgers Howard to accept his sexuality because the latter thinks that he is just effeminate and not gay. Since it was a little town where the people are polite, nobody had the nerve to confront him about his real gender, but their actions betray their thoughts, including the school jocks who scramble to cover their scantily-clad bodies when Howard saunters into the locker room. His parents fret over him and his bride-to-be, Emily Montgomery (Joan Cusack), is worried sick that their impending wedding will be called off. Finally, Howard announces his acceptance of his sexuality in - of all the days of the year - on his wedding day! His distraught bride storms off, the whole town is rocked by his confession and Peter rejoices. Cameron hears of the news and returns to his hometown to atone for his tactlessness. There, he discovers that he is in love with Emily, another former teacher, and plucks her out of her depression. The movie ends with the town accepting Howard for what he is, including his colleagues in the volunteer fire brigade.
The moral of the story: it is not a person’s sexuality that matters the most. It is the individual himself.
Now, about that “gay radar.” I think that there is truth to its existence, and women and other gays do not possess the bragging rights that they alone have the special talent to smell a faggot from a mile away. I have met individuals whose “soft” actions arouse my suspicions and a little talk with colleagues – other straight males – would only bolster it. But we do not confront the poor fellow like Peter Malloy or reveal his secret to the world like Cameron Drake, although we act like the school jocks in the movie. Shame.