**SPOILER WARNING!**
In the short story Am I Blue? by Bruce Coville, Coville shows the side of hypocrisy among the controversy of gay/lesbians. Shown through the eyes of a teen, Vince, who is on the fence about who he is, the story explores the world of gays who hide and those who cover it up with homophobia. The people in Vince's neighbourhood have surprising secrets - and truths - hidden behind everything they are on the outside. Melvin, Vince's fairy godfather, shows him this with and without words.
When Melvin first takes Vince to the café and gives him "Gaydar", Vince realizes just how many people are gay, and just how many people are hiding such a big secret. Vince sees so many people around his town who are blue, even in the slightest shades. Because he can see the blue people in pictures and on TV, his view of the world is changed even more. Melvin tells Vince about how he feels the world oppresses gays "If gay people hadn't been forced to hide for so long, we could just openly identify ourselves, there would be plenty of people that you could ask for advice. Everybody knows gay people, they just think that they don't." People from history like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great were also gay, and so were lots of people around town. But they never identified themselves.
Like Mr Alwain, the man who owned the grocery store and had a wife and 3 kids, he was blue as a blueberry! But then there were people like Ms Thorndyke, who everybody thought they knew was lesbian, but in fact, didn't have a trace of blue on her, she was completely straight. People assumed that Mr Alwain was straight, just from the fact that he played the part of it. And Ms Thorndyke never showed any lesbian traits in front of others because she wasn't lesbian, people just assumed, because they could. Like Melvin says "Straights are helpless at it [gaydar]. They're always assuming that someone is or isn't [gay] for all the wrong reasons.
When Vince gets home and he turns on the telly, he sees that his favorite news anchor is a pale (but distinct) blue, like a summer sky. And so was the homophobic politician that the anchor was interviewing. Vince realizes what a hypocrite this man was, advocating against gays, talking about how it was such a "threat to the American Youth". Really, this man was afraid of who he was, and he expressed that by campaigning against who he was, not embracing it, and spreading awareness. And when Vince wishes that everybody in the nation (coast-to-coast) who was gay turned blue for 24 hours, the whole nation turns upside down. People can't hide from the truth anymore and neither can Butch Carrigan, Vince's tormentor at school, who always acts as if he is above Vince because he is straight. But Butch isn't straight, he knows himself to be gay, unlike Vince who is still confused. But Butch, like many others (such as the politician) couldn't handle who they were and took it out on others who were just like themselves only less... opinionated.
So many people everyday hide from the truth because "Blueday" never happened. People are still trying to cover up who they are, who their family is, and who their friends are. They try to act as if many people who are gay aren't, and it shouldn't be that way. If gays could openly identify themselves, like Melvin said, people wouldn't be so lonely and so scared. Confused teens would know who to talk to and homophobes couldn't try to avoid the topic. Hiding yourself should never have to happen, if only we could uncover the truth.
When Melvin first takes Vince to the café and gives him "Gaydar", Vince realizes just how many people are gay, and just how many people are hiding such a big secret. Vince sees so many people around his town who are blue, even in the slightest shades. Because he can see the blue people in pictures and on TV, his view of the world is changed even more. Melvin tells Vince about how he feels the world oppresses gays "If gay people hadn't been forced to hide for so long, we could just openly identify ourselves, there would be plenty of people that you could ask for advice. Everybody knows gay people, they just think that they don't." People from history like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great were also gay, and so were lots of people around town. But they never identified themselves.
Like Mr Alwain, the man who owned the grocery store and had a wife and 3 kids, he was blue as a blueberry! But then there were people like Ms Thorndyke, who everybody thought they knew was lesbian, but in fact, didn't have a trace of blue on her, she was completely straight. People assumed that Mr Alwain was straight, just from the fact that he played the part of it. And Ms Thorndyke never showed any lesbian traits in front of others because she wasn't lesbian, people just assumed, because they could. Like Melvin says "Straights are helpless at it [gaydar]. They're always assuming that someone is or isn't [gay] for all the wrong reasons.
When Vince gets home and he turns on the telly, he sees that his favorite news anchor is a pale (but distinct) blue, like a summer sky. And so was the homophobic politician that the anchor was interviewing. Vince realizes what a hypocrite this man was, advocating against gays, talking about how it was such a "threat to the American Youth". Really, this man was afraid of who he was, and he expressed that by campaigning against who he was, not embracing it, and spreading awareness. And when Vince wishes that everybody in the nation (coast-to-coast) who was gay turned blue for 24 hours, the whole nation turns upside down. People can't hide from the truth anymore and neither can Butch Carrigan, Vince's tormentor at school, who always acts as if he is above Vince because he is straight. But Butch isn't straight, he knows himself to be gay, unlike Vince who is still confused. But Butch, like many others (such as the politician) couldn't handle who they were and took it out on others who were just like themselves only less... opinionated.
So many people everyday hide from the truth because "Blueday" never happened. People are still trying to cover up who they are, who their family is, and who their friends are. They try to act as if many people who are gay aren't, and it shouldn't be that way. If gays could openly identify themselves, like Melvin said, people wouldn't be so lonely and so scared. Confused teens would know who to talk to and homophobes couldn't try to avoid the topic. Hiding yourself should never have to happen, if only we could uncover the truth.
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