[Marguerite]

Yes, unfortunately in the world we live in, you do need to be aware of this kind of stuff. The fact is though, people on this thread are acting like there are just these gay guys who are quiet and unassuming and one day they decided they were going to start dressing in pink 24/7, sing musical theatre songs whenever and wherever they possibly could, give people unsolicited fashion advice and just basically behave like a complete stereotypes to draw attention to themselves.

I have this friend who is gay, and kind of acts in a stereotypical manner about some things. For instance, he is obsessed with his hair, he loved fashion, he is a lady gaga fanatic, he is obsessed with Gossip Girl and Eurovision. Before I even talked to him I knew he was gay. Yet it took him about 3 or 4 months after knowing him for him to actually 'come out' to me. The other day I was having a conversation with him and he was telling me he was concerned because he'd kind of been mucking around with this guy and flirting with him as a joke, and he was worried what was going to happen if he 'found out' he was gay, even though everyone in the state basically knows, since having 'I LIKE HAVING SEX WITH MEN' tatooed on his head would not make it any more obvious than it already is. But he has no idea, because he isn't subscribing to a stereotype and acting like he thinks gay people 'should act'. That's just who is he, its just his personality. And what's wrong with that?

So if someone is purposefully drawing attention to themselves by wearing gay pride shirts 24/7 and kissing dudes all over campus, I'd agree, you probably need to either a) accept that people are going to notice or b) stop.

But if it's just your personality, the teachers have no place telling people to be a little less of who they are. Aside from just being bad and innapropriate advice, part of a teachers job is dealing with this crap, and you do that by stopping the bullying and the bullies, not going to the victim, finding what the bullies dislike about them and trying to 'get rid of it'. The teachers shouldn't be trying to make the bullies more comfortable, they should be trying to stop the behaviour.