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: My Dropout Boyfriend Kept Dropping In by Lee Conell

Subject: A college student describes her boyfriend’s experiment with homelessness. This piece was fairly benign, although there is a wistful and resigned (and occasionally annoying) embrace of conformity that strikes us as rather depressing in one so young — “we weren’t in high school anymore” she says in the wry, knowing tone of a forty-something getting her first mortgage — and very emblematic of the problem with this column as a rule. For our gay version of the piece, click here.

Filed under: Straight Woman on “Relationships”

The updated tally (or why we feel like animals in the zoo): 7 out of 181 columns by openly gay writers; 2 out of 181 on female gay relationships; 0 out of 181 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.

Straight Woman on Relationships iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iii (43)
Straight Woman on Family iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii i (36)
Straight Woman on “Looking for Love” iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii (35)
Straight Woman on Breaking Up iiiii iiiii iiiii iiiii iii (23)
Straight Man on Relationships iiiii iiiii ii (12)
Straight Man on Breakup iiiiii (6)
Straight Woman on Gay Men iiiii i (6)
Straight Man on Family iiiii i(6)
Straight Man on “Looking for Love” iiiii i (6)
Gay Man on Family ii (2)
Gay Woman on Relationship ii (2)
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)