The Healthy Bear | Growg Up Gay In A Straight World

Contents:

• MY LIFE STORI 001| GROWG UP GAY
• GROWG UP GAY
• THKG ANEW: GROWG UP GAY A CHRISTIAN HOEHOLD
• THE HEALTHY BEAR ON GROWG UP GAY
• MATTHEW TODD ON GROWG UP GAY: "WE ARE STRAPPED SI A CULTURAL STRAJACKET"

MY LIFE STORI 001| GROWG UP GAY

Now, as an adult, I primarily intify as gay, and I feel strongly that havg those experienc durg my formative years helped shape my sexual inty. Still, as an adult, whenever I've brought this up wh my straight (and generally gay-iendly) buddi, they whout exceptn ny ever havg had siar experienc.

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GROWG UP GAY

I n learn to talk and expla how my life was growg up / growg up gay, but help others gog through the same/siar experienc. The only thg on my md was if anyone else felt the same way as I did bee no one seemed like they uld relate other than adults who were already out as gay themselv – which left me feelg all alone. It was a plex thought if I’m hont bee they brought me up only knowg that a man uld be wh a woman; unls you had already had openly gay members of a fay, or your school had openly discsed .

THKG ANEW: GROWG UP GAY A CHRISTIAN HOEHOLD

Out of shame and uncertaty, I hid the closet (didn’t tell anyone I was gay) for another 5 years, before tstg a few iends and exprsg myself more. Somerville was a llege town, which meant was overn wh gays and open-md tellectuals that never qutned who I was. I image my iends watchg He-Man, and sudnly there's a flash of heavenly light, out of which appears a betiful faerie wh a msage om on high, "Gurl, you're gay!

The wrer Christopher Isherwood once said, and I'm paraphrasg, but that homosexualy uldn't be narrowly fed around the sex act. I was for all tents and purpos a gay person, but I thk there was still a sense of hatn, still the smallt b of crge when I said those three words, "I am gay.

THE HEALTHY BEAR ON GROWG UP GAY

The first time I ever me ntact wh the word "gay" was around middle school when I started to watch Amerin TV shows like Friends, Will & Grace, and Queer as Folk. I even tried masturbatg to a picture of Madonna, and I now realize that's probably the gayt thg I've ever done. Whout an inty, I searched for one and found a temporary inty Jacquele as her boyiend, agast my sister's wish, who was a sophomore.

MATTHEW TODD ON GROWG UP GAY: "WE ARE STRAPPED SI A CULTURAL STRAJACKET"

" As bter as she was havg never land a lead the school play, Jacquele told several people that I was gay, and the word spread to my sister, which turn spread to my Mom. But on the ter, I was able to see that if I uld jt get to London, there were all the amazg, lorful, creative gay people that were jt like me.

We would s and watch TV, and if a gay person me on, he would say nasty ments about them, tryg to look like a big man.

I'd spend hours every week wh him, learng about what meant to be gay and most importantly, that was ok to be gay. The next thg I knew, three months had passed, and my iend and his parents helped me fd another fay to take me and foster me - a gay man named Pl, whom I now ll my dad, and his iend Sarah.