Yesterday at Julius’s in NYC, I picked up a copy of “Gay
City News” and found a front page story about the Peace Corps and gay
volunteers. The link is here.
The piece is by young volunteer Tymon Manning, and is called
“Lending a Hand in Peru, Returning to the Closet”.
The Peace Corps has apparently never had a “ban” on gays
like the military, but it has to walk a tightrope between non-discrimination
and advising volunteers to keep a low profile on personal matters that,
rightfully or not, could disturb members in host countries because of different
cultures.
Manning writes about the “machismo” of Peruvian and much of
third world culture. He mentions the
phrase “mas o menos” as an allusion to the idea of being “less of a man”. He did not encounter any personal problems
with his hosts, who sometimes teased him for being “skinny” although in the
pictures he looks quite strong and well muscled.
After my own layoff at the end of 2001, I looked into the
Peace Corps in 2002 and visited a couple of information meetings in
Minneapolis. It seemed from the
application form that the Peace Corps wantd to see evidence of extensive
volunteerism and socialization from volunteers. It didn’t pursue it.
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