All the way through grade school and most of high school, I was picked on. Back then no one ever spoke of ‘bullies’, no supports of any tangible kind. No anti-bullying campaigns, GSA’s or teachers looking out for students. In fact, many teachers perpetuated the bullying by either supporting it or ignoring it altogether. And because no one ever told me these boys were bullies I thought it was my fault.
Not like the other boys
I knew at a very young age that I was not like other boys my age. I never liked the typical “boys toys, ” and I would always rather play with dolls and other toys typically associated with girls. Then when I was 12 years old, I told the first person I knew at a very young age that I was not like other boys and when I was 12 years old I told the first person that I was gay, and it was a huge relief.
The Adoption of Little Miss Fancy Pants
When you’re gay and grew up in an era when AIDS was taking thousands of lives and Greg Louganis had to hide his disease when cut his head on the diving board at the 1988 Olympics, the thought of getting married and having a kid was comical. But, that’s exactly what ended up happening to my husband and me.
Rainbow Shades of Queer: An Affirmation
To my fellow Queerlings: I want to make sure you know your history, so this omi-polone is gunna park it real neat. The rainbow flag represents our community not because we are sponsored by Skittles Corp. No honey, those colors REPRESENT something. Many things in fact. Here’s the T.
HOW I WENT FROM BEING RELIGIOUS, TO DATING A FEMALE STRIPPER
I knew it. Or at least, I believed it could definitely be a possibility.
One day, as I was walking down the street, I randomly entered this little bookstore. It was colorful and charming, and it didn’t just have an awesome book selection but also paintings, photographs and pottery from local independent artists. There weren’t many places quite like that where I used to live back then. I felt tempted to buy so many things, but it was the end of the month, I had almost no money and had already impulsively bought a bunch of books on Amazon the week before.
Racing Driver Danny Watts’ Coming Out Story
This piece was written by Danny Watts, who is a recently-retired racing driver. He has a long and illustrious career, including winning the legendary Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race.
There isn’t any one moment that stands out in my mind as the moment I realised I would need to live in the closet if I wanted my motorsport career to go anywhere; it was just a general feeling I got. There were enough gay jokes and homophobic slurs to go around, and I felt like if I lifted my head out of the trenches, I’d be immediately annihilated.
My Mother and the Nun
My mother was 37 when she fell in love with a woman, the same age I am now. It was 1974, I was 14, and the woman my mother fell in love with was the principal of my brothers’ and sisters’ new grade school, a nun who also happened to be my mother’s boss.