I’ve always worked with a small cell of people, never more than 12. So, matters like sexuality can really change the dynamic quickly. In one instance, a str8 fratboy type (the kind that secretly mastrubate to WWF on saturday mornings) i worked with found out, and you could almost see his world’s foundations shake. (“You mean i fell asleep drunk on a gay man’s shoulder?” Uh-huh…)

I liked how you handled it. (we’ll ignore the freudian “usuaully” ;-)

On the small pox front…

(G-d forbid there is ever such a front):

Untill the human exhibits a torso/limb rash (which is always accompanied by a very high grade fever and, frequently, incapacitates the poor soul), they are not contagious.

So, Victim-X might have small pox in his system for up to 12 days, and is incapable of spreading it at all. Only till he becomes deathly (deathly) ill will he become a typhoid mary.

Trust me, you wouldn’t help but notice such a person on a subway carriage, never mind they’d be physically incapable of even walking into the station.

For this very reason, secondary small pox cases are usually confinde to home or hospital. This is one of the reasons why they’re using anthrax, because it “carries well” beyond the original delivery system, like a letter, or (worse) a cart of apples in supermarket (as the apples are distributed throughout homes, clothing, lunch bags, etc.)

.rob

Working with people means getting asked questions about what you do, who you are and relationships and stuff. I always feared that moment a bit; it is like having your coming out over and over again.

Like you said, when you slip it in casually like it is no big deal, most people react accordingly to it: no big deal indeed.

Sometimes I ask myself if I’m not the one having an attitude problem towards being gay instead of ‘those straight coworkers’.