“I think I could feel myself elevate 3 inches off the ground while I came to terms with what he just said to me. If you’re a ‘Dave’ and you’re reading this, put down your phone, flush the toilet, and ask your partner if there’s something you can do to help.”
‘Don’t get offended, babe. I just know you love that sort of stuff.’ My husband’s mortifying statement has haunted me for 12 hours. I couldn’t be more ashamed of myself if I tried.’
‘Someone at school told me you’re gay.’ I couldn’t keep this secret any longer. I poured my heart out to her. I thought I’d lost my friend. Until my phone pinged. ‘I like you, too.’
“We hid, for months. People started to suspect our relationship. We were pelted with rocks while waiting for the bus. We were spat on. Soon, her mom found out. They moved her 10 hours away. I barely had any contact with her. As the train arrived on the platform, she was waiting for me.”
‘An older man said to my sister, ‘Let me get a taste of that.’ He was sticking his tongue out and wiggling it. She instantly turned red. She was 12. He laughed and I did, too. I don’t know why, but I did.’
“This is what it REALLY means to be a man. It’s kissing my wife’s stomach and telling her she’s beautiful, even with her c-section scar and stretch marks. It’s telling my daughter ‘Honey, OWN that Jersey’ when she comes home from school crying after a boy told her to take it off because girls ‘don’t play’ sports.”
‘I saw his tiny little head emerge. ‘Shirts off!!’ Baby was placed on Frank’s chest. I wrapped my arms around my husband and our son. She made our dreams come true.’
“We were instantly overwhelmed with love that we began crying! She gave us a family. It was the most powerful moments of our lives. There were a lot of revelations from this photo. ‘I didn’t like gay people before I saw your photo, and my mind is changed.’”
‘I woke up next to my beloved husband with our 3 children across the hall, and realized I am no longer straight.’
“I paused what I was doing, took a deep breath, and asked, ‘Would you like to know something interesting about me?’ He said, ‘Yes, babe.’ He stopped washing the dishes, and turned to me. I broke down crying.”
‘I heard my brother yell, ‘Luke, move!’ I felt something hit my head. I instantly felt sick. I saw a gray beard, a man and his fist. I stood frozen. ‘Get away from them!’
“I stood in the living room, my hands shaking. I looked my mother in eye as she said, ‘What’s this important news you have?’ I nervously said, ‘Promise you won’t hate me?’ A look of concern crossed her face. I blurted out, ‘I’m gay, I have a boyfriend.’”
‘Wait! I am 29 years old. I won’t poop my pants. That’s ridiculous.’ I didn’t want to bother my wife. I didn’t want her to panic that I was home alone. ‘I think it’s time. I think I’m in labor.’
“But let’s start at beginning. My wife and I met in high school. It wasn’t love at first sight, or even attraction at first site. In fact, I wasn’t even into women.”
‘We went out to eat. There was a family sitting beside us, obviously disgusted. That hurt. My ‘life choices’ interfere with their views. We ARE the new normal.’
“I still remember what the room smelled like, I even remember what we were wearing. I couldn’t look away as if I was frozen. I knew instantly, this was the very moment I had prayed for.”
‘During high school, I decided it was time to tell my family. The thought of losing them was scary. I would return to school after break, for the first time, as myself.’
“To others, I was in need of fixing. In an attempt to make me more masculine and ‘grow out of it,’ I was placed in sports. I feared what I would face.”
‘Mom! You are white and I am brown, and that means Martin made it so you could adopt me!’ He grabbed his little brother’s hand. ‘Look! Martin’s dream came true.’
“He was 4 the first time kids told him he couldn’t play with them on the playground because he was black. I wasn’t prepared for any of it.”