Once straight, now gay

A man who previously assumed he was straight, and has his own girlfriend, forgot himself one night and had sex with a gay man - and now he can't get the gay guy out of his head. His story, left at the Pantip webboard, has young men and women alike worried - is the gay bug contagious?

The poster, who calls himself pleur (เผลอ), the Thai word for forgetting oneself, or making an error, says his gay friend at work told him that he liked him.

Pleur said he wasn't interested, and introduced him to a gay friend instead. But he knew his gay friend continued to fancy him, until one night when his friend asked him out as part of a group to the pub.

Pleur drank too much. His gay friend danced, he danced, but nothing unusual happened. Mr Gay volunteered to drive everyone home, but still he wasn't suspicious...until he realised that he was the last one to be dropped off.

The pair sat in the car talking, until the conversation turned to men, and below-the-navel stuff. Mr Gay asked Pleur if he would like him to help, no strings attached. Pleur, who was drunk, admits he felt turned on. He let his friend have his way.

He says when it was over, he felt angry with himself, and his friend as well. He says he feels like a girl who has just lost her virginity.

Mr Gay was just as annoyed: he said Pleur had changed. He had promised there would be no commitment, and that he wouldn't tell anyone.

Writing two weeks since that incident, Pleur says he cannot meet Mr Gay's gaze at work. He feels less interested sexually in his girlfriend, and possessive towards Mr Gay, who continues to see new men. When they talk, they taunt each other.

His colleagues say they are behaving oddly towards each other. Mr Gay tells his colleagues that they can push and prod Pleur as much as they like, but he is not gay, and won't change - then turns to his friend and asks: 'Right?'

Pleur says that while he still talks to his girlfriend to keep the relationship alive, he also harbours a secret desire to talk to Mr Gay. He calls his number, only to hang up before the call connects.

One male reader who left a response says he heard a similar story of a male friend who went to work in gay circles, and ended up having gay sex. He had to leave his girlfriend, because he found that once he had gay sex he could not stop.

He says he has begun to worry that the gay bug may be catching. When his gay friends ask him into their car, or to stay over the night, he is always careful to say no, and so far has not forgotten himself.

Other posters said it was a case of Pleur, having found someone new, losing interest in his present partner. Several said that after having gay sex, Pleur has finally found his 'real' self, and he should thank his gay friend for introducing him to the experience.

Another warned him against taking such a big jump - becoming gay would involve more than just a change of sexual partner, but could alter his whole life.