Gary Bradshaw
As a single man, newly experiencing life as a homosexual in the Bible belt, Gary Bradshaw anonymously shares stories from his dates, online encounters and much more. Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.
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Rise & Grindr: Sickly Domesticated
Nickname: The OG (Olympic Gymnast) Date: Third-ish How We Met: Ok Cupid! Rating: 8/10 When I left The OG a couple of days ago, I was flying high after a lovely, domesticated day of shopping and errands that ended with a kiss. An awkward kiss, but a kiss nevertheless. I waited a couple of days before agreeing to make plans again with the cutie, so as to not seem totally desperate and alone. My disastrous date with “Shark Week” was reignited when the fish-loving-lunatic texted me for a 2:30a.m. booty call early in the week. Pass. The unwanted, and ignored, request for sex made me realize that I was copping some serious feelings for the…
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Rise & Grindr: Going For Gold
Nickname: The OG (Olympic Gymnast) Date: First & Second How We Met: Ok Cupid! Rating: 8/10 With a few dates under my belt (so to speak), I was starting to get into the groove of my new sexual identity. After my night with Bonjangles, my date with Shark Week and the emotional roller coaster “Joe” took me on, I was completely exhausted. But I had agreed to meet a cute gymnast from Ok! Cupid who I’d struck up conversation with the night before. My wallet was feeling the sting of the dates prior in the week and I really didn’t want to invest too much money, or time for that matter, into…
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Rise & Grindr: Once I Went Black
Nickname: Bojangles Date: First How We Met: Grindr Rating: 6/10 After my dating disaster with Shark Week and still no word from “Joe,” I took the week to regroup and focus on work. I had a lot going on and with so many new dating apps to choose from, I realized how easy it can be to get trapped into hours of browsing, flirting and ultimately sexting with local men. I welcomed the break, but by the week’s end I was getting antsy (code: horny) and I started striking up conversation with the men who’d been awaiting responses. Bojangles was a slender black man who had been messaging me consistently for the past couple…
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Rise & Grindr: My Date With Shark Week
Nickname: Shark Week Date: First How We Met: Scruff Rating: 3/10 After a great first, first date with “Joe” [see ‘Meet Joe Black’], we spent the rest of the week talking about and plotting our Saturday night follow up. Unfortunately though, “Joe” got called into work last minute and had to cancel our second rendezvous. This wasn’t exactly the kind of ‘blow off’ I had in mind for the evening. “Joe’s” texts were short and he didn’t reschedule, which left me feeling a little turned off. But, whether my first-date was just annoyed at the thought of work on a Saturday or I was being thrown back in the ocean, I started looking to the…
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Rise & Grindr: Meet Joe Black
Nickname: “Joe” Date: First How We Met: Grindr Rating: 9/10 I did it. I went on my first gay, Grindr-initiated, homosexually-charged date. If you missed how this first man-on-man meeting came to be, check out the first part of my story here [see ‘Waking Up’]. After a few days of talking to “Joe” online, we coordinated our full schedules to meet on Wednesday for dinner. I originally had a work meeting planned, but moved it to an early happy hour in order to fit in the only normal guy to engage me with real conversation on Grindr. Since downloading the app last weekend, I’ve occasionally used it to see who else is…
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Rise & Grindr: Waking Up
Over the weekend I celebrated my 29th birthday. And like most birthdays before, I spent it with my friends, catering to their needs, dancing in a smoky bar and double fisting my gifted cocktails just as quickly as they were being poured. The next morning, I woke up hungover… a year older… and alone. Something I vowed I would change when I moved from my cozy Midwestern upbringings to the Bible thumping South nearly four years ago. It’s probably clear where this story is heading from the graphic above (and if that isn’t the case, you’re too young to read the content of what’s to come), so I’ll cut right…
