subject: 2G3...Fated Reality Part 1 [print this page] If you've ever watched an episode of MTV's The Hills, or The Real World, and thought, "Hey I could do that!", that's exactly what Thomas Simmons, David Coley, and Dani Elkins did when they created 2G3. It's a low budget, independent online reality show, filmed out of Raleigh, NC. One day Dani and David were talking and having fun and thought to themselves, "Why isn't this being filmed?" All three of them are big personalities with lots of character. To watch their show is to believe that they had been literally best friends forever. However, their relationships just began in the early summer of 2009. They filmed their first episode in July of that summer. Without even realizing it they had chronicled their entire relationship together. In interviewing the three of them, it became clear that their lives really didn't begin until they found each other. So how did they come together? What were they like before they became 2G3? What are their plans for the future?
Thomas Simmons grew up in an ultra conservative small town in Michigan. He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. He was very active in his church. He was always considered the good boy, and always worked hard to live up to other people's expectations. He remembers being in the fourth grade and being made fun of by other kids. The teasing he received was usually of a mocking nature about acting sissy, or gay. He remembers at that point of making a point to over compensate and become as manly as possible. He trained himself to act and become "straight". He fought his own internal struggle with how he felt inside, and how others thought he should be. Ironically, his sister was also lesbian. She came out a year before he did. When asked why he waited to come out after his sister, "I guess I waited because I thought it was more acceptable for her to be a lesbian than it would be for me to be a gay man. I always knew my mom would be accepting of me, but I feared how my dad would react." In what he describes as the worst year in his life, in 2008, his parents divorced. He ended up living with his mom and his sister. At that point he decided to come out to them. Neither of them were shocked.
Growing up Thomas had always wanted to live in Florida. In fact, before his parents divorced he had planned on moving there himself now that he was 20 years old. After the divorce his mother wanted a fresh start and to move away from their uncomfortably small town. She decided that Florida sounded like as good of place as any. She left Thomas and his sister in Michigan to watch the house, while she drove down to Florida to scout out jobs and find a place for them to live. On her way down several hurricanes hit Florida. She ended up stopping in Raleigh, NC. She stayed there for a week and decided she really liked it there. She found an apartment and a job, and that became their new home.
After Thomas came out in 2008, except for a very brief online relationship, he really hadn't dated much. Thomas always appreciated having a just few really close friends. After moving to Raleigh, he was searching for people he could talk to and understand him. One day he was on MySpace and he ran across David Coley's profile. The thing that struck Thomas was that David didn't have the "sexy shirtless pics" all over his profile. He seemed intelligent, and something about him made Thomas want to get to know him better. Thomas sent David a quick message telling him that he wanted to get to know him better.
Thomas remembers waiting a few days before he heard back from David. They ended up chatting online for a while, and soon Thomas found himself wanting to talk to David over the phone. He asked David to call him. David agreed, but Thomas recalls after asking David to call him he didn't hear the phone ring for hours. David eventually did call Thomas, and they talked for hours. It was an instant connection.
