Photo of Dave Bradberry (right) and Trevor Knight courtesy of Bravo
We were doubtful by yet another Bravo reality show that would follow the exploits of people living in confined situations. But now it seems that Below Deck, about a crew on a luxury yacht, is just the sort of summer sleeper hit we needed. And with this week's episode involving gay Dave's engagement, his and his boyfriend's porn past, and a troubled conversation about a potentially transgender person on the boat, it's starting to become important for lots of other reasons. Bravo posted this interview on its site after the episode aired where Dave Bradberry discussed the proposal and engagement:
"I'm engaged!!! It was so unexpected. We had never really even talked seriously about getting married, so it was very much a surprise. Trevor says it took me being away from him during charter season to realize how much he needed me in his life. The proposal way very impromptu. I was blown away. We have not gotten married yet; we had decided early on that we would not begin the wedding planning until Proposition 8 was overturned. Now that it has been, wedding bells are in the future.
"We actually first met during pre-production of my first feature independent film, Bite Marks. I had already been cast, and I was helping with the readings for the other principle roles. Trevor was working as the film's Assistant Director. This was my first "mainstream" project following my short stint in the adult industry. and Trevor never (really) left the adult industry. I'm certainly not proud of the fact that I worked in adult films, but I'm not ashamed of it either, which makes it significantly easier to communicate to new peers. I try not to go through life with regrets. People make decisions and they aren't always good ones. It's what we learn from those choices that matters in the end.
When things got a little bigoted about a transgender person who may have been on the ship, Dave says he felt uncomfortable about the language used to describe the woman. As he explained in the interview:
"John may or may not have hooked up with a transgender person. Whether or not that happened is completely between them. Sexuality is never black and white, and I think the negative stigma that was being discussed regarding John's new friend was disappointing. The words 'tranny' and 'she-man' are derogatory and disrespectful. I think it was wildly inappropriate for anyone to bring up to the other charter guests that John was going Below Deck with 'a dude.' I will say that if the woman was keeping the fact that she was trans a secret, she was playing a very dangerous game. I'd hope anyone planning on spending private time with someone alone in unfamiliar territory would be cautious, open, and honest about such things. Whether or not she was born one gender or the other, she was clearly portraying herself as a woman, and until corrected, the polite thing to do would have been to have think of her as so. To quote the great #RuPaul, we're all born naked, and the rest is drag."
[h/t to Towleroad]
Watch the clip about Dave and his boyfriend's porn past below:
Watch the clip with Dave's engagement below:
