Coming Out - It Only Took Fifty Years

<p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>I knew I was gay at age eight when my mother's definition of queer described me perfectly. I hid my truth and left small town Pennsylvania for the city life of Washington DC. immediately after college graduation.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>My mother carried memories of tragic family deaths and a lesbian encounter of her own. When she questioned my lifestyle and said she would blame herself and not know what to do for the rest of her life I thought she might take her own life so I lied. My father raised in the non-traditional life of circus performers unleashed me to be whoever I wanted to be but I continued my double life of straight daughter and gay lover.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Then becoming a teacher and high school principal I also lived a secret nocturnal life?my triple life. Bartending in shady parts of D.C. I was hit by a rock saw a gun pulled on my friend and witnessed fights arrests and marches that pitted straights against gays. I jumped from girlfriend to girlfriend courted a few straight girls and dabbled in activities far different from the straight educator I portrayed by day.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>On the day of my father's funeral my mother proclaimed her recognition of my gayness. What I hoped would be a celebration of love and openness was anticlimactic. I had wasted too many years. My father was gone and I had lost friends rather than share my truth.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Against the backdrop of the burgeoning LGBTQ movement I became a courageous trailblazer and did my own coming out in a big way I married a woman. Now I share my truth with the world and enjoy the happiness that honesty has given me.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Do not make the mistakes I made. Openly love who you love.</span></p>