Help! Where to put son's friend?

[bluerendezvous]

We are planning a trip to WDW at the end of this school year. My son and his friends will have graduated high school the day before. My (straight) son is best friends with B. B happens to be gay. We consider B a part of our family and are looking forward to taking him with us. Many of their classmates will be going too. So far, all of the other friends that want to go are also straight. All of the kids know about B's sexuality. Everyone is accepting and fine with it. (They are a group of theatre kids.) So what's the problem? Here goes:
I am organizing this trip. I get to make the room arrangements (Lucky me!). Where does B sleep during our trip? I don't think he belongs with the girls. I don't know if he should room with the boys. Everyone has to share a bed in order to save costs. I really need to figure this out! Can you help? I don't want to ruffle any parent's feathers. What would you do?

 

[taylor3297]

Why wouldn't he room with the boys? He is gay but that doesn't mean anything inappropriate is going to occur on his part. Ask you son where he thinks B needs to sleep. If they are all friends, then he will be able to answer.

 

[lillielil]

Ask B where he wants to sleep. I'm guessing with the boys.

 

[bluerendezvous]

B would, of course, rather be with the boys. You may notice that I'm from South Mississippi. Kids from all over our state will be with us. As is usually the case, kids are MUCH more accepting than their parents. I've been put in an uncomfortable position with regard to the other parents. BTW, my son doesn't particularly want to share a bed with anyone including B. He has offered to sleep on an air matress and let B have the bed.
I was hoping that someone may have another, better solution.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I think he should room with the other boys, but that's just me. I wouldn't have a problem with my DS rooming with gay classmates.

I hated sharing a bed when I went on trips in high school. If it had been an option I know my parents would have paid extra for me to just room with one other person instead of three!

I think talking with B to find out where he would be the most comfortable is the best way to begin.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Honestly, I would not have thought twice about it an would have just put him in with the boys (since he is a boy and all). I assume you using mens' restrooms, the boys changing room for gym, the boys changing room backstage (if they are lucky enough to have such a thing--I remember changing in the wings a few times), etc. I guess I do not see that it is really any different.

 

[Gwendolyn]

Just ask the boys about their thought of sleeping arrangements. If B is your sons best friend then they should be sharing room/bed right? And if your son doesnt mind sleeping on an inflatable bed, then problem solved, right?

 

[OrlandoMike]

I've traveled all over the United States with groups of kids that were mixed gay/straight. Let the kids figure it out.... It will be a non issue! If your son is willing to sleep on an air mattress so the other kid can have the bed, problem solved! They will be having too much fun at Disney to give it a second thought!

 

[C&G'sMama]

Where to "put" him. With the boys and with his friends or however you are assigning rooms for everyone else. If it's alphabetically than alphabetically if it's by friends than with friends, I just really don't think it's an issue

 

[rpmdfw]

I've traveled all over the United States with groups of kids that were mixed gay/straight. Let the kids figure it out.... It will be a non issue! If your son is willing to sleep on an air mattress so the other kid can have the bed, problem solved! They will be having too much fun at Disney to give it a second thought!

You should however make the option of sleeping on an air matress available to everyone else. It's fine to say you can sleep on the floor, because you don't want to share a bed with another kid." It wouldn't be cool to say "you can sleep on the floor because you don't want to share a bed with a gay kid".

If they only reason people got to sleep on an air matress was to get away from me, I'd feel like a pariah. I don't think that's what you want for this young man.

In my experiences in High School, there were always a couple guys who would sleep on the floor just to avoid having to share a bed at all. I always tried to room with them, cuz I like to spread out!

 

[It'sWDW4me]

You should however make the option of sleeping on an air matress available to everyone else. It's fine to say you can sleep on the floor, because you don't want to share a bed with another kid." It wouldn't be cool to say "you can sleep on the floor because you don't want to share a bed with a gay kid".

If they only reason people got to sleep on an air matress was to get away from me, I'd feel like a pariah. I don't think that's what you want for this young man.

In my experiences in High School, there were always a couple guys who would sleep on the floor just to avoid having to share a bed at all. I always tried to room with them, cuz I like to spread out!

I agree - let everyone know (girls too) that they can bring an air mattress if they want to sleep on the floor. Even in high school I really didn't care to share a bed with a classmate. I would have loved to have had that option thrown out there!

 

[Sphyrna]

I agree with the others. Ask the kids where they want to sleep. Put the option out there to everyone to sleep on an air mattress.

Or you can just have the kids draw names out of a hat. But I think the kids would prefer to make the choice.

 

[Tommy_B]

It sounds like you are talking about four kids to a room? Sharing a queen bed, two queen beds to a room? If your son has already expressed the desire to sleep on an air mattress and not share a bed with anyone, doesn't that solve the problem?

 

[bluerendezvous]

Thanks to everyone. I appreciate your help. My son & I spent the day with B today. I told him about this thread and where to find it. My son and he have decided to split the time on the air matress. Neither one of them want to share a bed with ANYONE. I will tell the rest of the group that they also have the option of splitting time between the air matress and bed.

I knew I could get helpful advice here! Thanks!

 

[jjjmranch]

Air mattresses solve everything. I was at a hotel with a bunch of high school baseball players. Some slept on the floor just because they didn't want to share a bed. No air mattress. What were those coaches thinking? I would have brought my own air mattress rather than sleep on a hotel room floor. Yuck.

 

[dblr]

I would agree that no kids want to share a bed on a trip like that I know when my son's class went he came home and said that his class was going and told me so was I. I asked him why and he said because he knows how much I like Disney, then I asked him again and he said that way he got a bed to himself because he would room with his dad, SMART KID. Anyway alot of the kids did not like shareing a bed but I don't think they slept much anyway.
Just my 2 cents worth

 

[MonorailMan]

I would think having him in the boys' room would be fine, especially since all the others are straight, so it's not like anything "questionable" is going to happen. I'm sure the parents of the girls would probably disapprove of having a boy in their room despite his orientation......but I could be wrong.