January 17, 2011

Ken

Ken, age 5
Orlando, FL (1986)


This is a picture of me, my grandmother, and sister on a road trip to Orlando. I'm pretty sure that I think grammie's mauve pantsuit is quite fabulous.

"Fab-u-lous!

This is the same grandmother that let me play with Barbies and My Little Ponies while watching "The Golden Girls" on Saturday nights. 3 out of the 8 children from my generation that regularly spent time in her house turned out to be gay. One owns a gay bar in Portland. I was always the loner of the group and came out the latest at 24.

I'm pretty sure my mom knew when she took this picture (or one of the many others I came across that are basically the same). Or maybe it was the My Little Ponies and Barbies. I didn't know until puberty, around age 11, when I started dreaming about boys in my class.

I was always artistic and sensitive and was a late bloomer. I love looking back at this time now - but I just wish I'd had the courage to come out sooner, and open doors for other people in my small town.

Ken's first, famous-person same sex crushes:
Richard Dean Anderson ("MacGuyver")
Costas Mandylor ("Picket Fences")
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RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON 20X24 COLOR PHOTOPicket Fences - Season 1The Golden Girls - The Complete First SeasonHow to Take Your Grandmother to the Museum

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love how you talk about your grandmother! Some of my best childhood memories involved Golden Girl marathons at my grandmother's house on Saturday nights. And the house I grew up in was mauve, inside and out.

Kathryn Thomas said...

There's no denying it: Grammie's mauve pantsuit IS quite fabulous! As is your triumphant gymnast pose. :)