Menurut saya, media sedikit banyak memiliki peran dalam penerimaan dan penolakan terhadap suatu budaya. Tak terkecuali budaya homoseksualitas.
Anggap saja saya ketinggalan, tapi saya tetap kaget melihat isi sebuah majalah gay terbitan Amerika. Majalah ini adalah majalah pertama yang ditujukan untuk gay dan lesbian dan kemudian terus berkembang untuk mengungkapkan budaya gay, seni, fashion, tren, dan komunitas gay secara umum. Yang membuat saya kaget, majalah ini sangat membuka sebuah jendela baru ke dunia homoseksualitas dengan pengungkapan dan penggambaran yang jauh dari kesan seronok atau apapun yang sejenisnya. Jauh dari apa yang saya bayangkan sebelumnya. Hal inilah yang membuat majalah ini menjadi sukses: A key ingredient in Out’s success in attracting high brow advertisers who had never considered targeting the gay market before was the magazine’s offering of a safe environment in which no adult material or personal classifieds were published.
Majalah ini menjadi sangat menarik menurut saya. Dengan penulisannya yang terasa dekat dengan kehidupan – terutama karena memang karena para penulisnya adalah para gay pula – majalah ini mampu mengangkat kehidupan dunia gay seakan memang merupakan kehidupan yang berkembang di dunia ini saat ini. Contohlah tulisan ini yang mengangkat fenomena gay:

On Valentine’s Day my boyfriend tells me he can’t ejaculate — not with me, at least. “Sorry,” says Bam. “I’m saving it for the sperm bank.” Excuse me? “The appointment is all organized,” he continues with blithe indifference. “The lesbian is about to ovulate.” Blech. Spare me the science fiction.
It’s not the most romantic gesture in the world when your boyfriend leaves you on Valentine’s Day to go drop a full load at the sperm bank for a pair of lesbians hot for his genes, but he made this Faustian bargain long before we met. As potential padre to an artificially inseminated gayby — for whom the lesbians will be primary caregivers — Bam wouldn’t have any legal rights or responsibilities. He wants only minimal involvement. He promised it would never affect our relationship. Liar.

Atau mungkin tulisan mengenai body electric school berikut ini:

On a recent Saturday around 11 a.m., I found myself naked with 30 other men, blindfolded, lying on a towel and pleasuring myself with a spurt of coconut oil. I was at Celebrating the Body Erotic — a course offered by the Body Electric School that is designed to teach men to “awaken the erotic energy that lies within all of us.” The group had spent the morning getting to know each other through various exercises, and two hours in we were sans clothes and fondling ourselves.
Our leader was Michael — a spry, gray-haired man with a quick gay wit. The purpose of the blindfold, he said, was to help us get out of our heads and turn our minds inward. If you needed more coconut oil, you could raise one hand while cupping the other one at your hip, and a naked assistant would come by and squirt more into it. Along with his four or five assistants, Michael, also naked, urged us to try different areas with the oil: between the thighs, the scrotum, the stomach — pretty much everywhere but the penis. In fact, throughout the day, as we danced, breathed, hugged, and caressed each other, we were encouraged to refrain from ejaculation.
Michael suggested we arch our backs. I thrust my pelvis into the air and tried to enjoy myself, but I felt like an amateur porn actress trying to be sexy. I couldn’t shake the thought that the Body Electric team was watching — even if it was “without judgment.” I felt a little dumb and inhibited — which was surprising since, as a 38-year-old single gay New Yorker, I have been in more compromising positions.

Ya, majalah ini memang telah membawa sebuah budaya mengenai dunia gay. Akibatnya? Mungkin sebuah penerimaan terhadap budaya ini. Atau malah penolakan yang semaakin meluas. Tetapi apapun yang akan terjadi nantinya, budaya seperti ini memang ada. Tertarik dengan majalah ini? klik saja Out.com (Tazki)