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Back in the Castro, Ryan has taken a job with A.G. Ferrari Foods, purveyors of wines and cheeses, mostly Italian. He learns how to sniff wines and pronounce Piave and Pecorino.

At one point, Ryan drops in on a PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Meeting. When the father of a lesbian tells Ryan that he sees no reason why his daughter shouldn’t have “the same privileges, rights, and obligations” enjoyed by his heterosexual sons, a light (however dim) of recognition and understanding switches on in the farm boy’s head, providing one of the episode’s best moments. Perhaps Ryan’s IQ isn’t the equivalent of his family’s farm tractor.

Another epiphany occurs when Ed takes Ryan to meet his parents and straight siblings on Mother’s Day. Ed’s parents’ pride in their gay son is obvious, unconditional. Ryan softens visibly. Perhaps his youthful brainwashing is beginning to lose its stranglehold.

The only time that sparks fly is when Ed and friends take Ryan to Daddy’s, a local gay bar. Harassed by a couple of gay men, Ryan’s hottest buttons and temper are pushed. But push never comes to shove, or to fisticuffs. Ryan and entourage leave. Ryan feels “outnumbered” in the Castro. “I miss my friends,” he whines. “I miss the element that I hang around with at home.” Everything he touches here is gay, including the tee shirts. To wit: “I’m so gay that I poop rainbows!” What’s a squeaky-clean Christian to do? Apparently cleaning his room isn’t one of them.

Back at Ed’s place, the marketing consultant has made the apartment Joan Crawford clean, except for Ryan’s bedroom, described by Ed as “a sty.” When Ryan, who claims four years in the army on his resume, visits a gay chapter of the American Legion, he states that gays have no place in the military. He concludes “I respect every one of you in this room, but just because I respect someone doesn’t mean that I want to shower with them.”

Of the many homosexuals that Ryan meets in his 30-day adventure, he is most favorably impressed by his roommate Ed, and by a deep-voiced, muscled softball player. Toward the program’s end, Jake, his best friend from back home, visits Ryan. Oddly, intriguingly, Ryan takes Jake to Daddy’s, the scene of his gay-straight confrontation. Before their time at the bar ends, both Ryan and Jake are shirtless, on a platform, dancing.

Later, Ryan laments his shirtless shenanigans. “Taking my shirt off in a gay bar. That’s way out of my character. I wouldn’t even take my shirt off in a straight bar,” he says.

On Day 30, at Ryan’s “first and last wine and cheese party,” sponsored by his employer, the farm boy tells guests that he’s leaving San Francisco with “a very positive image of homosexuals.” He claims to be newly “open-minded, matured,” and “a better person.” He admits to having made uninformed opinions in the past.

For his part, Ed says, “Ryan is now one of my good friends.”

Back home in Michigan, Ryan’s family has Gee Whiz! Written across their faces as he tells them that San Francisco actually encourages its residents to celebrate Gay Pride. Obviously, Ryan has grown. He’s not the same judgmental hayseed that he was before his 30 Days. Nonetheless, the program ends without him disavowing his beliefs that homosexuality is a sin and a personal choice.

As for the viewing audience, our final question goes unanswered: How’re you going to keep him down on the farm after he’s seen the Castro?

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