Astroboy Made Me Gay

“Cosmic ranger, laugh at danger. Everything is GO Astroboy!”
-Theme from “Astroboy.”

When did you know? At what age did you get first feel the attraction to someone of your own sex? I first experienced those feelings around the age of seven, but it was only recently that I figured out what triggered them. I knew I had developed crushes on various males throughout my childhood, especially people on television. I recently bought a DVD of the Japanese cartoon “Astroboy,” which was popular when I was a child. Watching this tape, I realized that he was my first male crush.
Who wouldn’t love Astroboy, he could fly, was strong and courageous, had great adventures and he was so damn cute. I remember imagining Astroboy and I having adventures together, he would hold onto me as we would fly through the sky together. I know it sounds strange having a crush on a cartoon character, but I swear it’s true.
As I grew older, I continued to have crushes on male television characters; at least my next one was a real flesh and blood human being: Sandy from Flipper. Looking back, this crush probably had a lot to do with locking in my taste in men, I’ve had a life long obsession with blondes ever since. Sandy was so sexy and he was always usually dressed only in cutoffs. Again, I would imagine him and me frolicking in the water together with Flipper, having all sorts of fun adventures.
At the time I didn’t identify these crushes with being gay, since I didn’t know what being gay meant. All I knew is I wanted to be close to these people, I wanted to have fun with them, I didn’t know anything about having sex with them. After all, I was only nine at the time.
My next crush definitely had me moving in a more adult direction. I was a bit of a loner as a child and would usually come home and watch TV after school. I normally preferred cartoons and comedies. I usually didn’t like action and adventure shows, but suddenly, I was coming home everyday to watch reruns of “Sea Hunt” starring Lloyd Bridges–again a show starring a blond who usually had his shirt off. I used to love watching him.
I never had any contact with my childhood crushes (which also included Cary Grant and Sean Connery), excerpt once many years later. I was covering a campaign rally for Bill Clinton in 1992. I had been admitted through the press entrance, which brought me through the VIP area for the rally. After the event ended, there was a crush of people backstage. As I was trying to get out, I suddenly almost bumped into a rather tall man. I looked up and was surprised to find Lloyd Bridges in front of me. I hesitated for a moment and wondered if I should say anything about my boyhood crush on him. Ultimately I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and said nothing but “excuse me.” Some things are better left in fantasy anyway.

Copyright 2007 Amsterama Global Productions