Is There Such a Thing As a Gay Banker?

Time: 16:19
Location: The Sticks

I'm still in exile in The Sticks. While here, I've been working at the local bank, answering the phones and stuffing envelopes. It's pretty boring stuff, really. But it's just a temp job. What's stranger to me is the fact that people do this kind of thing for a living. It just seems lke the women around me had to settle to do this job. Does anyone grow up wanting to be a banker?

Well, I don't know about growing up, but both my parents were Finance Majors. My sister was a finance major. My grandfather was CEO of a bank. Obviously, they chose these kinds of jobs. But I never could. I'm an Anthropology major myself; my greatest ambition, next to writing, is becoming a forensic anthropologist. A far cry from banking. But it wasn't until I was talking with Ashley that my sexuality even came up as a reason for my liberal art's degree.

"Sure, you hate it cause you're gay."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, have you ever heard of a gay banker?"

I haven't. Obviously, common sense says that out there, somewhere, there is a gay man who works in a bank. It's the same kind of sense that says there must be gay Republicans. It's just a matter of numbers. But you have to admit, gay men are often stereotyped as working in more liberal or creative settings. It's the natural assumption of the Broadway Theory. Basically, it goes like this: a lifetime of being repressed and anonymous and secretive (in the closet) results in an almost pathological need to assert your individuality and creativity in as much as a public space as possible (a Broadway stage).

The problem is, do we start to assume that we're better because we're in these kind of jobs? I think the answer is yes. Which doesn't make me very comfortable. Because when you start looking close enough, you see that isn't necessarily true. The ladies at the bank have to engage customers on an almost minute basis in a very social setting. The loan officers have to figure out creative ways to move their client's money or the bank's money to get the best deal possible. And none of them feel the need to assert their creativity...they let it come out naturally as part of their job.

Is there such a thing as a gay banker? I can only hope so.

Sincerely,
Your Spy