Twenty-two years ago, I asked my dad if he was gay. Then he was gone.

Contents:

• THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW
• DOCTORS, DADS, AND LADS: A BIG GAY MEDIL BUNDLE
• I'M GAY, MY DAD'S A PASTOR, AND ... WE'RE WORKG ON IT
• MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI
• GAY DOCTORS NEAR ME

THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

DOCTORS, DADS, AND LADS: A BIG GAY MEDIL BUNDLE

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". I also knew that my dad mt be gay—bee, well, of urse.

While I’d never met an out gay man, I kd of knew what they were supposed to be like om movi and TV, and Dad f the mold: He loved to ok; he cleaned obssively; he kept the Internatnal Male talog around, bee, he said, “I like the cloth.

I'M GAY, MY DAD'S A PASTOR, AND ... WE'RE WORKG ON IT

“You know, ” I said to Dad, “I asked Mom once if you were gay. “Gay? “I’m not gay.

” she’d said our kchen—after a long nversatn she’d had wh an openly gay iend om llege, Pat, who had, apparently, been a nfidant of Dad’s. Years later Mom told me that, acrdg to Pat, Dad had been active Lexgton and Louisville’s gay club scene. ) But to actually let me —to s on that blue blanket, look me the eye and tell me he was gay—was somethg he uldn’t do.

MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI

“I asked Mom once if you were gay, ” I would have said. His work appeared the German book Me schul Auge/ my Gay Gaze II, and most recently was a featured artist an exposn at Art Murmur, Oakland, you like his work, you will enjoy his portfol se, Instagram, Twter, and Flickr as well. A gay doctor wh the body of a Greek god relled the moment he stripped off his special Mormon unrwear and walked away om the church a movg Instagram post.

Early rults show promise At this pot, most of the rearch has foced on how well doxy-PEP works when offered to gay and bisexual men, and transgenr women — groups that have disproportnately high rat of STIs.

GAY DOCTORS NEAR ME

"It's been workg, " says Keh Byrd, a gay man who liv Fort Lrdale and was prcribed doxycycle by his primary re doctor. "I have certaly talked wh a lot of my iends about , but I don't thk 's very mastream the gay muny at this pot, " he says.