A Late Night Mission To Stark Street

If you knew Jeff G. like the rest of us know him then the following story would be pretty shocking and revealing. Without divulging too many details about Jeff I will just say that he presents himself as a pretty conservative, old-school type of guy. He is not overly macho and he doesn't drive a pickup or beat his wife but he's definitely not what you'd consider to be a modern man.

Anyhow, the story begins at the end. I received a call from Jeff last night or rather early this morning, it was 2 am. Jeff says he is downtown and needs a ride home and although I had to be at work this morning I don't question a call from a friend. So I ask where he is and he says he will be waiting outside of Silverado's down on Stark Street. For those of you not from Portland or just don't get out much, Silverado is a gay club. So yeah, it was a bit surprising to hear that Jeff would be waiting for me there. As I was driving downtown my first thoughts were that Jeff went off the deep end and had gone out for a night of gay-bashing. I know that sounds harsh but as I said, he is pretty conservative and has not always spoken well of the gay community. But then again, had he been out making trouble then I'm sure he would have been calling from jail and not asking for a ride home.

So I make my way downtown and pull up in front of Silverado's and there is Jeff, waiting by himself and he sees me and runs over and gets in the car. What kind of vehicle I drive is not important to the story so I won't go into it. Jeff looks ok, he doesn't reek of alcohol or look rumpled in any way so I feel a sense of relief but I am also damned curious. As we begin to drive away I don't say anything, hoping Jeff is going to fill me in. He does.

Apparently Jeff had been questioning his sexuality lately and this was the night he chose to put himself to the test, or however you care to look at it. Jeff tells me about having had mixed feelings most of his life and now at the tender age of 38 he thought it was about time to explore these feelings. Knowing that Stark Street held a collection of bars and clubs catering to gay men he had gone down there to look around. He didn't provide the intimate details but apparently he had met several very cute guys and was very excited about the possibility that he would be seeing one of them again under more intimate circumstances.

Jeff apologized for calling me at such an early hour but he explained that he needed to talk to someone about all that was going on and he said he trusted me the most out of our group of friends and acquaintances. So I felt a bit honored and decided not to rip into him for getting me up at two in the morning. I dropped Jeff off at his house and went home, got a couple more hours of sleep and went to work. I haven't talked to Jeff since then but I am glad that he is feeling happier and better about himself.