My Dad Made me an Ally

I wish I could thank him

My dad in 2006, a year and a half before he passed

My dad taught me many things: sarcasm, stoicism, doing a job well, reverence for nature and how to be an understated LGBTQ+ ally. Some of these lessons took a while to form, but being an ally was developed after only two statements, years apart from one another.

One day, when the AIDS crisis was breaking, news of Rock Hudson’s diagnosis was splashed on all the gossip rags…