Savage Love

Dan on breakups, the best song to have sex to, and the biggest barrier to gay marriage in the United States.

Gay Marriage

By Dan Savage

I spoke at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, last Thursday night. PU students submitted a lot more questions — anonymous, on three-by-five-inch cards — than I could possibly answer in the ninety minutes we had together. So I'm going to use this week's column to answer some of the PU questions I didn't get to. Here we go:

What is the biggest barrier to the acceptance of gay marriage in the U.S.?

There are two big barriers.

First: all those loud, aggressive, and hypocritical right-wing "Christian" shitsticks who oppose marriage equality because of some supposedly anti-gay bullshit they read in the Bible while ignoring everything in the very same Bible that limits their own sexual freedoms — you know, all those motherfuckers who masturbate, fornicate, divorce, and remarry, and then turn around and oppose same-sex marriage because it "goes against their religion."

Second: all those quiet, timid, and cowardly NALT Christians out there who support marriage equality but have allowed their conservative coreligionists to hijack Christianity. ("NALT" stands for "not all like that," the phrase you hear from liberal Christians whenever you bitch about conservative Christians, i.e., "We're not all like that!" Yes, yes, NALTs — we know. You're not all like that. Don't tell us. Tell Tony Perkins, tell the pope, tell Maggie Gallagher, et al.)

Do you have advice about a breakup?

Thinking about breaking up with someone? Don't draw it out — nothing is worse than the humiliating realization, some days after you've been dumped, that the person who dumped you wanted out of the relationship weeks or months earlier.

Just been broken up with? Cry, eat, delete (phone numbers, e-mail, texts, sexts), defriend, hit the gym, hit on someone else just as soon as you're able. Or sooner.

If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

I'm an animal already — I'm a primate, like you. If I had to be some other kind of animal, well, I would want to be either a tapeworm living in my husband's gut or a particularly lethal bacteria that had just been inhaled by Glenn Beck.

What is your opinion of straight women participating in No Shave November?

I know nothing about No Shave November — but I'm an American, and we don't let ignorance stop us from forming opinions. So I wholeheartedly endorse No Shave November, its mission, and women's participation in it.

I'm the "other woman" to a man fourteen years my senior. I left home for school, and he stopped contacting me — this after 1.5 years of relationship and visions of a future together. Did I get played?

Yup.

What is your response to people who say that being gay is a choice?

"You think being gay is a choice? Then choose it: suck my dick. Show me how it's done. You choose it — suck my dick — right now, and I'll videotape it, and then we'll put the proof that being gay is a choice on the internet for the whole world to see. Deal?"

Do cooling and warming lubes just burn for everyone? Or is there something wrong with me? Why are they advertised as being so awesome?

I'm not sure why they're suddenly marketing hot-and-cool lubes to breeders so aggressively. But straight folks should know that gay people were using these lubes forty years ago. They were called "hot lubes" back then, and gay people quickly realized that there wasn't anything interesting or sexy or awesome about a burning hole.

What's the most effective method for getting santorum out of the sheets?

An ounce of prevention — or the careful placement of a towel — is worth a pound of Spray 'n Wash Stain Stick. If putting down a towel, or taking time to douche, is too much for you, fuck on the floor or get brown sheets.

I had a traumatic experience my freshman year that scarred me to the point that I did not want my boyfriend to be even a little dominant. Now, three years later, I am ready to take on a submissive role. How do I get my boyfriend to accept a submissive me?

Thank the boyfriend for being the not-even-a-little-dom partner you needed while you healed. Then tell him that, thanks in large part to him, you're secure enough to start mixing it up and you want to explore consensual, erotic submission. Then offer him your erotic submission — in whatever form it takes/turns you on — without asking him to play an overtly dominant role. Then, when he sees that you're not going to shatter, or that you're really sure about this and that it really turns you on, he can grow into a more overtly dominant role.

What should I do if it is too BIG to get in without hurting? Lube is not an option!

If it hurts going in and lube is not an option, then I have a one-word answer for you. And it's not what you should do when someone stuffs a big dick into you and lube isn't an option for some mysterious reason, but what you're gonna do when someone stuffs a big dick into you and lube isn't an option for some mysterious reason: suffer.

Is college really the best place to meet the love of your life? And if not, then what do you do in the meantime?

Some people do meet the loves of their lives at college. But you won't know if you're one of those people until you're well out of college. So hook up with hope.

How important do you think sexual chemistry/compatibility is in a long-term relationship?

Sexual chemistry/compatibility is only as important as sexual exclusivity/satisfaction is. If the latter doesn't matter, then former is irrelevant. And for the record: companionate marriage — the union of two individuals who sincerely love each other but who don't fuck (or don't fuck each other) because they have no sexual chemistry/compatibility (at least with each other) — can be wonderful. There are lots of happy, healthy companionate marriages out there — indeed, it's a "lifestyle option" that rarely gets the recognition or credit it deserves.

Do you think polyamory is possible or healthy?

Polyamorous relationships are possible — I know for a fact that they're possible — but they're only as healthy as the folks who are in them. The same goes for monogamous relationships.

What's the best song to have sex to?

Is there any question? "The Lonely Goatherd" from The Sound of Music, of course. If you don't have The Sound of Music — but who doesn't? — then "If Momma Was Married" from the original Broadway cast recording of Gypsy.

Thanks to Kayla, Chris, Lisa, Nancy, and everyone else at Pacific University who brought me in!

Find the Savage Lovecast (my weekly podcast) every Tuesday at thestranger.com/savage.

mail@savagelove.net

Commentarium (19 Comments)

Nov 10 10 - 3:10am
Egads

I looked up this "santorum" in the Urban Dictionary with the thought "isn't that a politician or something?" And there you were as coin-er of that phrase. Neat!

Nov 10 10 - 4:11am
hma

"The Lonely Goatherd"--you're too funny, Dan!

Nov 10 10 - 9:29am
jaycee

I think this whole anti-gay religious crap is a big misunderstanding. It was a typo. God hates FIGS. With an "I". -- it's right there in the text, Mark 11:12-14 :

12And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

13And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

14And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

--(http://boingboing.net/2010/10/30/god-hates-figs.html)

It's clearly time to refocus the xtian pogrom towards the eradication of figs from our grocery shelves, farmers markets, and god forbid, trees carrying this forbidden fruit in our own backyards!

Nov 10 10 - 10:19am
wow

I went to Pacific University in the early 90s. I only lasted two years because Forest Grove and Pacific (at that time) seemed to be full of right wing religious people. All the women my age looked, dressed and acted like they were already in their mid-30s. It seemed like I was the only person having sex. I'm so psyched to see that you were there, Dan, and that the vibe at P.U. appears to have changed for the better sex-wise.

Nov 10 10 - 4:26pm
TB

What is NALT?

Nov 10 10 - 4:26pm
TB

Read the f*cking manual, got it.

Nov 10 10 - 4:51pm
kas

You'll be at my law school tonight (leaving soon to get a seat!) and I am so, so excited!

Nov 10 10 - 6:16pm
why

Why are you soo pissed off if someone does not agree with you Dan?

Nov 10 10 - 7:23pm
93

If I could, I'd choose to be bisexual. (Actually, imagine how easy the world would be if EVERYONE were bisexual) But, in reality, it probably wouldn't be any different than a bald guy wearing a toupee - he doesn't HAVE hair, he's just a bald guy in a toupee.

A straight guy sucking dick isn't gay or bi, he's just another straight guy sucking dick. But a bi guy or gal choosing to limit themselves to only one gendered-partner? That's just a low-down dirty shame. But bi guys do it all the time, because women will just accuse them of being "in the closet" and bi girls do it all the time because women just accuse them of being "trendy." Is it possible that guys are just more sexually open than women? I bet 90% of women would break up with their boyfriend if he told them he'd had sex with other guys, even if it was just for fun or out of curiosity. But 90% of guys would just be annoyed that they didn't videotape it if their girlfriend told them they'd had sex with other women.

Nov 10 10 - 7:48pm
ST

@ why, I think Dan is more pissed when a person is flat out wrong about something they know nothing about.

Nov 10 10 - 8:02pm
dif

Dan is just as ignorant as the bigoted Christians he rails against. Christianity isn't a monolith. And there are gay Christians, too. Dan is basically saying that Unitarians = Pentecostals = Orthodox Christians = Catholics = Fundamentalists and anyone who knows anything about religious knows that thats bullshit.

Nov 11 10 - 12:29am
AH

@93 - I think that's just a stereotype. I don't have any hard numbers, but anecdotally, I know quite a few women who have dated bi or bi-curious men, certainly more than 10% of my acquaintance. I personally have dated two bisexual men, as well as hooked up with my very gay friend during his college-era I-wonder-if-I-like-girls-too phase (sadly for women everywhere, he realized that no, he just liked men. very lucky for his husband, tho)

Nov 11 10 - 10:16am
Demanda

Love you, Dan! Especially your retort to the old "being gay is a choice" line.

Nov 11 10 - 5:38pm
bk

Awesome answers today, Dan. And I'm going to be hearing "Lonely Goatherd" in my head the rest of the evening.

Nov 14 10 - 11:22pm
Meander

"Dan is just as ignorant as the bigoted Christians he rails against. Christianity isn't a monolith. And there are gay Christians, too. Dan is basically saying that Unitarians = Pentecostals = Orthodox Christians = Catholics = Fundamentalists and anyone who knows anything about religious knows that thats bullshit."

Whatever. When I see one of you, ONE standing up for gay rights and marriage rights and the right to not be harassed and live peacefully as simply AMERICAN rights due to all citizens, then come talk to me. Until then, you are all just what Dan called you out as - NALTs. Hope it gives you hell.

Nov 15 10 - 9:27pm
jaw

Well dif...at least Dan Savage doesn't actively limit ones rights to life, liberty and the most important aspect, the pursuit of happiness. The bible thumpers do and that DOES MOST ABSOLUTELY make any Christians who believe actively or passively that being gay is a sin to be punished by society MUCH MORE DANGEROUS than Dan Savage ever could be.

Stop defending the indefensible already. you're wrong.

Nov 17 10 - 8:35am
M.

@Meander (and Dan)- I'm a straight, churchgoing, sing-in-the-choir Episcopalian. I'm also a loud, vocal, proud supporter of LGBTQ equality/rights. When the news about Gene Robinson a few years back come onto my computer screen I stood up and cheered, and then forwarded it to tons of friends. When the legislation passed in Virginia recognizing marriage between one man and one woman as the only valid legal partnership, I started packing for Connecticut (ok, so we were wanting to move anyway, but that was truly VA's jump-the-shark moment for me). One of the things I've had to do that I'm proudest of is explain to my daughter why gay people can't get married in some states - because she JUST DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM. My friends are well aware of how I feel, since, as my husband says, I never shut up about it. Here's the thing, though: I'm not alone. I have a lot of like-minded friends. We are out there... please, I beg you, don't paint us all with the same brush as the wackadoo bigots, who would be bigots whether they were Christians, Muslims, Jews, or whatever.

Feb 07 11 - 11:28pm
WDH

You forgot black folks Dan, and minorities in general. Huge supporters of prop 8. Of course, you wouldn't seem quite so hip if you said the big barrier to gay marriage is those shitstick n-------, right?

You ever seen jihad up close and personal Dan? I have. It gets perpetuated by language and attitudes like yours. You're not going to combat hate with hate, though it may feel good to you at the time. Even if you manage to ram what you're selling down people's throat, the dark time may come when problems get blamed on you that aren't really your fault. In your cushy world you think you're getting shit on. You have no idea, and you don't want to, trust me. I've seen it. It's not pretty. It's just the hate the goes around and comes around. I know it feels good right now Dan, but it's not what you want to put out there.

Jul 22 11 - 2:23am
Jonetta

It's like you're on a mssiion to save me time and money!