New York is an amazing, mind blowing, eye boggling city.
I learned so much walking those alive streets, attending show after show on Broadway, going to acting classes at one of the most respected studios in the world and, of course, dealing with people from all walks of life.
One of the things, I never would have imagined to learn is being gay. No, this isn’t my coming out story. I am, in fact, not gay — as far as I know — but this is my story about how I truly came to know more about a gay person.
Where I grew up, I never met a gay person. As a kid in my neighborhood, once in a while someone would say, “Oh that’s so gay” or “You’re gay,” but I never put two and two together. It was just a saying, a figure of speech.
In New York, it’s a whole different picture. Gay people are OUT. Shit, they even have their own neighborhoods. Chelsea, and now Hells Kitchen, are predominantly gay. I’m not saying this is good or bad, I’m just saying this is quite different from my upbringing. By the way, it’s a known fact in real estate to buy before gays move into the neighborhood, because when they do, they clean it up and boost property values significantly.
I’ll never forget walking down Ninth Avenue and coming across two guys who looked me up and down for what seemed like an eternity. “Holy Shit, I just got checked out,” I thought. I finally knew what it was like to be a girl. Once I became aware of these gay eyes, I soon found out I was being checked out a lot in this town of Manhattan. WOW! Weird. Cool. Weird.
That brings me to the hotel.
In a union hotel like mine, bartenders make BANK! I’m talking full benefits paid on top of a starting hourly wage at $24.00 and cash tips in excess of $200 a night.
One of these bartenders was a Brazilian guy by the name of “Rogi.” Soon after I began work in the hotel, Rogi began to court me. You know, make me drinks from the bar, hook me up with AMAZING food from the restaurant, blow jobs, just kidding. But in all seriousness, he would occasionally grab my cheeks, both high and low. Just another day on the job, right?
Well, over time, Rogi continued to take a liking towards me and offered me a life free of worry. “Become my boyfriend and you’ll never have to worry about money again,” he said. He went on, “I’ll take you shopping, get you massages, take you on trips, and put your name on my condo.”
“Wow,” I thought. So this is the life women have. Man, I am missing out!
I didn’t take Rogi up on his offer, but I continued to be his friend. And he continued to take care of me with drinks, food, chocolate and hugs when the city was beating me down. He was my only friend who took me out to dinner to celebrate when I landed a contract with one of the top modeling agencies in the world. He was truly a nice guy.
And although his hands would occasionally slip to the no fly zones. He had a genuine heart. He was one of my first gay friends.
I often think about such a life. What if all your worries were gone and someone else provided the way?
I’ve never known a path like that, so I’m still in the dark as to how it would be.
It seems like it would have it’s pluses and minuses like anything else.
What do you think?