This is a seriously tragic posting to read and now 20 pages long. If we are to extrapolate this thinking about gay and being artistically creative, in this case quilting or not, are we to assume that the first men to do cave paintings got laughed at because of their presumed sexual orientation. Look if the guy thinks the minute he places his first piece of fabric under a sewing machine he will become attracted to men...then maybe he is right to avoid quilting. It saddens me that we male quilters feel compelled to justify what we like doing, in this case quilting, by mentioning our previously "male"occupations, by the number of children we have fathered or some other ridiculous macho litmus test. Perhaps it is time that we have a place on this board where men can post what they have creatively sewn and members can either praise or offer suggestions for improvement and we can possibly move beyond this prejudicial thinking...or is the first quilt to be shown there, that include pink or lavender, going to raise eyebrows and people are to think...he is one of "them" forever? I recently made my avatar and with all those colors I guess one could assume schizophrenia...if they so wished.