Member-only story
In this age of book burning, let’s share queer history!
A Personal Gay History. Who Was I Then? Who Am I Now?
Does anyone remember that guy?
I was born in 1954. Gay history and my history have had quite an evolution during my lifetime. I am seventy-one now. With each birthday that passes, I wonder if I will reach the next celebration of my birth. I work in Death Care daily, so I am very aware that I am at the age where most men reach their “best if used by” date.
I did not have an easy coming-out story. I didn’t come out until late in life for many reasons. Probably the main reason is that I grew up in Southern Oklahoma. I was unaware of other gay boys and thought I was the only one who felt like I did. My parents didn’t go to church, but they deposited all five of their children on the steps of the small Assembly of God church in the neighborhood whenever the doors were open.
There, I heard about an angry, controlling God who would send me to hell to burn for eternity for the slightest sin. A trumpet would sound one day soon, and all the “good” Christians would be raptured up into heaven, leaving the “bad” Christians on earth with a teeming horde of demons to torment us forever. If I were not constantly in a state of begging for forgiveness, I could miss that trumpet call!
