Deliverance Meets Gay Pride

Guerneville, CA is a strange place that Jesse and I have really been struggling to get used to. Sort of like watching the Will Smith movie Wild Wild West and getting used to seeing robots and cowboys on screen together. As you walk through town there are subtle and not so subtle clues that being gay is ok here. These clues are badly needed because without them, you'd think a mob with torches would assemble the moment you grab your partner's hand in public. There are gay pride flags sprinkled throughout town. A set of dinnerware in a window display, available in all colors of the rainbow, are arranged as one to let you know that. The local pizza joint is run by a lesbian, the coffee shop in town has gay couples strolling about. Yet sprinkled about are some pretty shady looking characters. The kind you read about in drug pamphlets but never see. There are fairly young people here with some big drug problems. They look much older than they are. Much older. There are quite a few homeless people here too. Also sprinkled about are hitchhikers, some of whom you get the idea that they'd trade you blow for blow if you catch my drift.

Last night, Jesse and I went to the Rainbow Cattle bar just down the street from Rainbow Rentals and Rainbow Fabrics (see?). It looked like any other gay bar we've ever been to. Complete with throbbing techno music. But something just feels out of place. Like the gays are an alien race holding the straights hostage here or something. The town has two websites as if they're skating the line between quaint riverside resort town and FABULOUSSSSS!

You can walk by a sports bar downtown and you can smell the testosterone coming out of the place with disheveled-looking folks standing on the sidewalk in front looking like they're in the midst of a drug deal and you're interrupting that would fit right in, say, in front of a seedy bar in Modesto. Then turn a corner and an older gay couple with an adopted black kid will be strolling down the street. It's jarring. I wish I knew someone that lived here who I could ask about the history and the strange double message coming from the place. They really should consider changing the name from Guerneville to Sybil.

I guess what I'm saying is, I can't tell whether the gays are tolerating the straights here or vice versa - or if toleration isn't even needed. Perhaps it's complete blissful acceptance. I've not seen a mean mug once since I've been here - even from the druggies. It makes me wonder what it'd be like to grow up here as a teenager - gay or straight. According to the 2010 census, there are a couple hundred kids 16 and under but none 17 or 18. That tells me that kids get their license and use it to get the hell out of here. The majority of the population falls between 30 and 60.

Could I see retiring here? Maybe. The place we're staying is certainly beautiful. I'd like to spend more time here first and I'd definitely have to find that local citizen to get the lowdown on the town. Until then, Jesse and I have one ear on the techno music and one listening out for the Deliverance theme.