The Real World Denver - Meet Davis

Debuting last week on MTV, the 18th season (yes, that is not a typo) of The Real World features the usual blend of hot college age guys and gals all living together under roof to find out what happens when they stop being polite, and start getting real. And as has become a mainstay on pretty much every season, there is a gay housemate. This season, we will be following the adventures of Davis, a 23 year old from Marietta, Georgia.

The Advocate Magazine had the pleasure of sitting down with him to chat about his life, being gay, coming out and more. It is a very interesting read. Here are a few of the highlights. For the entire interview, just go HERE.

Having seen previous seasons of The Real World, which usually feature one gay or lesbian cast member, did you feel like you were "the gay one"? Did that matter to you?

I feel like they always have...not always, but a lot of times there's a gay character. And I had to do a lot of talking to myself, like, Am I only cast for this show because I'm gay? But there are tons of gay people who try out every season for this show, so obviously there must be something different about me from the rest of them. In life, I'm a real straight-acting kind of gay guy. I'm in a fraternity, I've barely been to any gay bars. I hardly even went when I was in Denver. Most of my friends, if not all of them, are straight. I have a few gay friends. And so, for me, I thought maybe I was being cast for being more like the "straight gay guy." They hadn't really cast a ton of those before. But I didn't want to have to come in and, like, come out immediately to everyone. 'Cause I felt like the guys would immediately label me as "the gay character." And I just came out a year ago. So it was kinda tough, coming in knowing that people are gonna expect someone to be gay, and fingers might be pointed at me, and what are they gonna think? And are they gonna still be my friends? That sort of stuff was going through my head.

So you were not out in the house immediately upon arriving there.

No. I mean, I didn't come in and be like, "I'm gay!" It took some time. Unfortunately, because this is a show that usually has a gay character, people were asking, "Is there somebody gay?" And I wasn't gonna lie and be like, "Oh, I¹m not," and then tell everyone a month later. So if I was ever confronted, I did [come out], but it wasn't all, like, [from] day one.

What was the response from the other housemates?

The girls had no issues. In fact, one of them was craving a gay character. Some of the guys had issues with it, homophobic issues. I mean, that¹s probably why they were chosen. I'm from a really strong Christian family, so we had a lot of talks about, like, "Is this a choice?" And, what are my views about, you know, if you condemn drinking in the Bible, how is that any different from condemning being gay in the Bible, when my Christian friends are drinking, you know? So it was things like that. One of my favorite persons in the house is one of the guys, and we have become really good friends because of it. So I don't feel like it was a typical "gay guy that only is friends with girls" scenario.

What do you think will be the general reaction of your community when you go back to Marietta?

I don't know. I have gotten to the point in my life where I just want to be happy. I want to be in a relationship with a guy because that makes me happy, and I want to just be proud of who I am and not ashamed of anything anymore. I don't really care what my friends from my school who may not be my friends anymore think.

What can you tell us about your relationship?

We've been dating now for nine months. We actually went to high school together. We're from neighborhoods just down the street from each other. He's really into baseball, he's in a fraternity. He's sort of a guy's guy. I knew him in high school but not knowing he was gay, and I think the same thing went for him with me. So we were hanging out over Christmas break, someone mentioned to him that I was gay and thought we should hang out. I guess he'd come out to one friend, and that friend set us up. And then,through the process, he's actually gotten more confident and proud of who he is, and he started to come out to lots of people, and this show will be a similar experience for him, in that a lot of his friends from college and high school don't know that he's gay. But he made an appearance [on the show], so it'll be an experience for him. We'll be going through it together.

If you haven't checked out the first episode, it airs again several more times this week, so don't miss it. And be sure to catch the rest of The Real World Denver airing at 10:00PM Wednesday's on MTV with repeats about 200 times during the week!

A special thanks to blog buddy Ellegedly.com for the pictures. Be sure to check out their awesome site too!