Well, the "writing gays" side thread was really interesting to read. I must live in a very liberal city, because to me the only reason Johnny's gayness was important was to explain his love-interest choices (girl vs guy). If there had been no love interest, then it wouldn't have mattered, one way or another.
Basically, Johnny is going through what every teenager goes through; love/lust, confusion, alienation, anger at his parents for not being supportive. There is nothing intrinsically gay about any of these things. All those aspects of the story could have just as easily been explored if Johnny had some other "social stigma" - and honestly, what teen doesn't feel that they have some social stigma or other (geek, nerd, spaz, ugly, etc....)? So gayness in itself is not necessary for the story, except to explain the love interest.
That said, I liked the story. My favourite part was the end interaction between Johnny and Tam. Johnny played it just right. He opened himself up, got his answer with Tam's obliviousness (if Tam was interested, he would not have missed that cue!), and accepted it as it was. There was no need to push the point any further. Best of all, the fact that both Tam and Johnny are guys was irrelevant to the emotions. This scene could have played out the same way regardless of the gender of the two characters. That, in my mind is what made this a good story; I could identify with the main character despite the fact that, on the surface, he is so different from me.
