Where the Boys Are

You know, it seems like there are a lot of gay men in Madrid, and maybe even Spain, in general. I wonder … are there more gays per capita here than in other countries of Europe? The way things are going, Madrid might turn into Spain’s San Francisco.

Through the years, it has always perplexed me to see the gay population grow. I had a Spanish roommate and friend who came out while I was visiting Madrid one year (of course I already knew he was gay - not because of how he acted, only because he never had a girlfriend). He was a tall, educated, good-looking guy that had a bunch of way-hot girls basically throwing themselves at him all the time. I would ask him, “Are you sure you don’t want to just try out Marisol, or Eva, or (fill-in the blank), before really deciding on this?

My own very scientific theory on why there are so many gay men in Madrid is the simple fact that they just have too much of a good thing. There are great looking woman all over the place! It almost seems like the men are bored with the beautiful chicks and want to try something different. Or maybe they want to become some kind of “Anti Macho-Iberico”, in order to rebel against a Spanish stereotype of a woman-chasing player.

Whatever it is, and in typical post-Franco Spain style, they sure seem to be going overboard in sharing their new found “freedoms". Gay people are really expressing themselves all over the place and everyone else is bending over backwards to show how "normal" they think this is. It has to be frustrating for the women looking for guys - but they wouldn't admit it..

I know that when the guiris / Americanos come to Madrid, we are always impressed with the quality (and quantity) of Spanish women, and confused as to why there are so many gay men …. but then again kind of thankful too … just being straight means you're way ahead of half the room in the girls' eyes - no matter what you look like.