Imagine if you will a place where it's totally cool to be gay. Sure, there are still homophobic parents who shun their children because of religion (we're looking at you, Tony's mom and dad), but Paul's folks are just like most other locals. When five-year-old Paul told his mom he was gay, she was just impressed he had learned a new word. Fast forward a decade, and Paul's still straight-up gay (ha).
Kyle, on the other hand, is struggling with the eternal bisexual conundrum: is he just fooling himself? Why can't he pick a gender and just be attracted to it already? Why can't his sense of self be as strong as Paul's? While Boy Meets Boy includes a model accepting community, characters still have plenty to sort out when it comes to their sexuality and orientations.
Questions About Sexuality and Sexual Identity
- Do you believe any town will ever become as accepting of LGBTQ people as Paul's? Does such a town already exist?
- Bisexual people often find gay people telling them they're really gay and straight people telling them they're really straight, or vice versa. Why do you think this happens?
- Note that there's no actual sex in Boy Meets Boy. Chuck insinuates to Infinite Darlene that he's getting it, but there's nothing more graphic than that. If Levithan was breaking new ground in gay YA, why didn't he even mention gay sex?
Chew on This
Noah and Paul communicate largely through notes. Back in 2003, everybody didn't have a smartphone in their pockets, so there was no 24/7 texting and Facebooking. Paul makes Noah a scroll; Noah hands Paul an actual photograph. It's a much more intimate and tangible way of communicating your feelings.
Even though they live in a very accepting town, Kyle experiences guilt and confusion about his bisexuality. You don't have to live in a family like Tony's to internalize homophobia.