Was I too hard on him?

[wclark03]

An interesting conversation at work occurred yesterday. I got briefly talking to someone at work I've never really spoke to before. He asked if I had plans for the weekend, I told him that I was Christmas present shopping for my other half. He asked what SHE does for a living? I told him what HE does.

This guy is camp and stereotypically gay, I am not. I have to say that I was rather annoyed that a fellow gay man assumed that I must be straight, because I am not camp. I used quite a cutting tone of voice when I said the word he. Half of me now feels guilty about this, the other half of me still thinks he should have known better. What do you all think? Was I too harsh?

Before I do respond, I'd like to ask.
Should he for any reason already to suspect that you were gay?
Many guys who are gay do not want to mistaken a straight guy for being gay so they will ask specifically directing to the "she" pronoun, discretely finding out the other person's true orientation.
If he truly had no reason to suspect you to be gay, especially since you do not fit the gay stereotype, maybe you were a little harsh. Try apologizing and see if a friendship might blossom.

From personal experience, many of my friendship were created through interesting misunderstandings.