Beverly

Beverly, age 9
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1970)

That's me on the left with my niece Denise, playing our favorite game of "house," which we called “Billy." Of course, I was ALWAYS Billy - the protector and the adventurer. As long as I can remember, I enjoyed dressing up, and pretending to be someone other than myself.

I was equally comfortable pretending to be a rock 'n roll singer in a band, or donning a costume as a bit part in a dinner-theater type show.

I was raised as an only child and was very involved in theater. I felt most comfortable and happy around actors, although my parents were very leery, referring to many of them as "queer."

Although I knew perfectly well what they meant, I never let on, as I was afraid they wouldn't let me associate with them.


As a heavy child, I was called a "lezzy" well before I even knew what it meant. While I suppose I always knew I was attracted to women at some level, I felt I had to act or dress up like a boy (and PRETEND to be a boy) to get away with it.

While I look fairly butch here, I later preferred being rather androgynous. And I ended up being a very late bloomer, not coming out until I was in grad school.

I refer to that realization as my Technicolor moment, like when Dorothy opens up the door to Oz to find her drab black and white world has become full of color.

Today, my partner and I have 6 adopted children.

And our kids have no problems having two "mommies." As a matter of fact, my youngest asked me to accompany her to a father-daughter dance recently, and I even got to wear a dress!

Beverly's first, famous-person same sex crush:
Jennifer Beals (in "Flashdance")
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Also check out "My First Gay Crush Blog"

Joshua

Joshua, age 12
Los Angeles, California (1995)

My childhood was a bumpy one. I was raised in Los Angeles by a single mother, who it turned out was suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder. Sadly, it was not as entertaining as "United States of Tara" is each week.

I knew I was different at the age of 10. Back then, I had intense crushes on all of my best friends growing up.

I bounced around between foster homes and group homes from age 10 to 15. I came out at 15, and it was the best decision I have ever made.

My best friend then knew I was in love with him, and was OK with that as long as I didn't 'try anything funny'.

And actually, after coming out, everyone was so kind and loving.

I'm now a professional ballet dancer, and I've been partnered with my husband and best friend for 7 years.


I'm going to grad school in the fall, and I'm making a documentary following a group LGBT kids in their early teens, to give voice to a younger demographic of kids experienceing this. If you'd like to participate, you can contact me HERE.

I love being gay, and I wouldn't want to be any other way. I hope my film helps kids come to that place in life a lot sooner than I did.

Things do GET better, but they'll also be better NOW if we do something about it. Someday, being young and gay will be as taboo as being young and short, or having freckles. And I want to make that day come soon.

Also check out "My First Gay Crush Blog"

:: HAPPY GAY PRIDE! ::

Greetings, everyone!

 HAPPY  GAY  PRIDE  MONTH !!! 

In the same 24-hour period this week, two gay-related stories exploded and went viral on the internet. The first was comedian(?) Tracy Jordan from "30 Rock," and his vile, ignorant, and disgusting tirade against gay people at his show in Tennessee. He "joked" about how he would "stab his son" to man him up, if he "acted gay." He soon issued the standard 'I hope this saves my ass' apology.

Tina Fey's official statement was brilliant:

‎"I hope for his sake that Tracy Morgan's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian coworkers at '30 Rock' - without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with,
or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket. The other producers and I pride ourselves on '30 Rock' being a diverse, safe, and fair workplace." - Tina Fey

Sadly, if Jordan's (or any comedian's) tirade included this level of violent racism or anti-semitism, he would probably be instantly fired. Which might still happen, we'll see. Or maybe, Tina Fey will find a genius way to write this in to the show, and make Jordan suffer for his deeds, on camera.

My brief opinion of this is:

What Tracy Morgan said on stage was spoken from his heart.
What Tracy Morgan said in his apology was spoken from his publicist.
Words like that have direct, negative consequences against gay people, period.

Actress Nia Vardarlos spoke some amazing truth to power about this
HERE, on The Huffington Post. We need more voices like this, NOW!

So that was the BAD news. The GOOD news, was the other story:

This video of a 9-year old Robert Jeffrey, who posted it on his Vimeo account on June 6th - which now has 712,000+ views! Robert's video embodies everything this blog is about, and everything gay pride SHOULD be about:

Self-pride, self-love, and self-acceptance...
And a fearless determination to simply be himself.


I've contacted Robert, and will feature his "Born This Way" story sometime next week. In the meantime, enjoy Robert's infectious energy, and remember back to the little gay boy or girl inside of YOU!

And I wish you all a very HAPPY GAY PRIDE MONTH!
xo - Paul V., Blogmaster

Daniel

Daniel, age 5
Quincy, IL (1959)

When I was small, my family fished every weekend on the Mississippi river.
We'd use bamboo poles and earthworms and fish off my dad's home made boat.
We would fry the fish we caught for Saturday night supper.

I don't remember much from back then.
I know the facts, but they don't seem like they happened to me. I do remember not feeling different, I just always liked boys.

But I didn't like a lot of things boys did - sports, rough and tumble, competition. Fishing, yes. But I was also a bookworm, and liked growing flowers. I loved "Davey Crockett" on TV, and I had a coon-skin cap.

My parents loved me, but they didn't want me to be gay. I was bullied a lot, and I had a secret route that I walked home from school, to avoid the bullies. Growing up, the only thing I wanted to do was to leave town.

And I did.

My message to LGBTQ kids now is:
If people mistreat you, it means there's something wrong with them, not you.
It really does get better and better.

Daniel's first, famous-person same sex crush:
Greg Morris (on "Mission Impossible")
I think I became a tech geek partly because of him.
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Also check out "My First Gay Crush Blog"