In which The Gay Recluse updates his informal but rather telling quantitative analysis of Modern Love, the weekly Style Section (of The Times) column in which openly gay writers almost never appear, and even less frequently describe a romantic relationship.

This week’s piece: The Steep Price of Our Forbidden Kiss

Subject: A young woman with cystic fibrosis falls in love with a man with the same illness; tragically, they can never be together without heightened risk of literally killing each other. This piece is compelling on its own, but we have also provided a “gay” version here in which we emphasize somewhat more overtly the symbolism of disease and sexual orientation (Magic Mountain, anyone?).

Filed under: Straight Woman “Looking for Love.”

The updated tally (or why we feel like animals in the zoo): 6 out of 170 columns by openly gay writers; 1 out of 170 on female gay relationships; 0 out of 170 on male gay relationships. In what is arguably the “gayest” section of The Times, more women have written about gay men than gay men have. And now more women with cystic fibrosis have written about falling in love (not that we don’t applaud that) than openly gay men have; statistically, this seems rather odd.

Outstanding question to Daniel Jones, editor of Modern Love: WTF?

Straight Woman on Relationships iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiii (39)
Straight Woman on Family iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii (35)
Straight Woman on “Looking for Love” iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iii (33)
Straight Woman on Breaking Up iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iii (23)
Straight Man on Relationships iiiii iiiii i (11)
Straight Man on Breakup iiiiii (6)
Straight Woman on Gay Men iiiii i (6)
Straight Man on Family iiiii (5)
Straight Man on “Looking for Love” iiiii (5)
Gay Man on Family ii (2)
Gay Woman on Relationship i (1)
Gay Woman on Family i (1)
Gay Man on Self-Hatred i (1)
Gay Man on Prom Date i (1)
Ambiguous/Nurse on Drugs i (1)