Quote Originally Posted by Irulan View Post
National Coming Out Day.
What a great idea. Slowly but surely.

Caveat. I am straight with two gay parents. LOL, product of a closeted gay man and a woman who decided she was a political lesbian (her terminology) sometime when I was a teen.

I find the military comments very interesting as my Dad said that one of the reasons he joined the army, for WWII mind you, was to meet men.

My dad, born 1917, was gay, but even in the free form 70s and 80s he was too ingrained in not being straight up about who he was (no pun intended) that he couldn't truly come out, even when every one knew anyway. He lost his job at the State Dept during the McCarthy Era, when gay bars were staked out and the comings and goings of visitors noted. He cheated on my mom all the time, but "there are no other women" was his MO. So my mom got pissed and started dating women.

Now both my parents had a lot of issues and problems beyond this, and my childhood/teen years were pretty horrible and chaotic, but I am convinced that my father would have been much less tortured if he'd been born in a different time.

The gift for me in all of this, is what I believe to be a true level of blindness to labeling of sexuality. In my value system, what kind of relationship you have: loving, caring, committed is way more important than the gender of whom that relationship is with. It's nice to see my kids carrying that on, too.
Beautifully said! Thanks for sharing ...