The gay men beme ‘father and son.’ Now they want to get married but n’t. - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• I'M A GAY DAD. MY SON LOV SPORTS. HERE'S HOW THAT UNEXPECTEDLY CHANGED MY LIFE
• AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL
• THE CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN
• GAY MEN AND THEIR FATHERS: HURT AND HEALG
• THE GAY MEN BEME ‘FATHER AND SON.’ NOW THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED BUT N’T.
• MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI
• DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR
• ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

I'M A GAY DAD. MY SON LOV SPORTS. HERE'S HOW THAT UNEXPECTEDLY CHANGED MY LIFE

I am drawn to his storied gay life; he is amed by the charmed pleasantri of my famo school. About how Liza Mnelli really was a gifted actrs before she mutated to a gay in. When I do somethg right, like help him bag the groceri or tell him I'm game to let his gay neighbor be "our third" tonight, he tells me I'm a good a few weeks, 's zy and surreal to play the son of a man who's not my real father, pecially when my real one liv across the untry.

Other guys make me feel like sh, tellg me I'm cute enough but nothg like the geo whe gay Adonis on Tim. ” As a sports-averse gay man terted books, Broadway, and the big screen, ’s been challengg to accept that my weekends now overflow wh basketballs, baseball diamonds — and bros.

AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL

The last time I n rell seven guys standg around a bar sgg me “Happy Birthday, ” I was turng 26 at a long-shuttered Wt Village late night gay spot known as Hell. Daddy-son relatnships are mon the gay muny bee many gay men are rejected by their natural #1: Have you met Jeff's new boyiend? Stt Takacs, a 46-year-old and father of three, penned a personal say about his experience g out as a gay man to his sons.

There wasn't much of a plan, no guibook hand, only goals that I hoped my boys would start the procs of unrstandg and acceptg their dad for whom I tly was: a gay Stt TakacsIt had been a long 15 months sce g out to my wife, an experience I unfortunately wouldn't scribe as posive, fun or somethg I ever want to repeat.

THE CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN

Wh many emotns and strs, I accepted her requt to keep the reason for our divorce -- due to me beg gay -- a secret for at least another year. Chigo offered the stabily I need a job, iendship and at this pot, a new relatnship that all ntributed to my healg this new gay world. Gay iends were jt iends -- rpected but their relatnships not necsarily discsed.

Gay marriage was the news, but not discsed our hoe other than the ocsnal negative ment om a close relative.

In many ways, a lovg place for them, but I me to realize that teachers spoke openly agast gay culture and textbooks labeled homosexualy as sful and evil. My kids listened and followed their prr to g out, was hard for me to hear my kids e home wh stori of teachers gradg gay marriage or gay people, to see their workbooks, rercg the bias agast beg gay. The last thg I wanted was for my kids to be treated differently bee they had a gay dad, which I felt was a the year followg my divorce, I agreed not to tell the kids I was gay, so I had to be reful.

GAY MEN AND THEIR FATHERS: HURT AND HEALG

We were reful to avoid referenc to "gay" discsns and plac, although I lived the Gayborhood of Chigo, an upsle, predomantly gay area on Chigo's North Si. He was a few years ahead of his brothers beg doctrated by his school agast homosexualy.

THE GAY MEN BEME ‘FATHER AND SON.’ NOW THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED BUT N’T.

Eventually, though, that started to four years, my olst son's iends knew he had a gay dad, and, to put teenage terms, wasn't so bad. I thk he unrstands beg gay isn't a choice anymore, and I believe that will ex-wife certaly bore the bnt of the day-to-day wh the kids.

MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI

I helped start a group for gay fathers Chigo and has shown me that there are other gay fathers ahead of me their g-out journey wh posive experienc to share. Many quiri I have received over and over aga through the years beg somethg like this: “I've always liked olr men, but many gay iends close to my age are cril of me and spic of my motiv.

” One young man said to me, “If I see a handsome gay man my age, he might jt as well have a vaga. Var labels have been ascribed to tergeneratnal upl, whether straight, gay or bisexual: tergeneratnal, age-gap, age-discrepant, or, more often than not, “May-December” relatnships.

Inially, I was unnvced the relatnships were ser, but that was bee I held stereotypil views: an olr gay man who was lookg for a trophy-mate and has the money to take re of his boy toy and a younger man who was lookg for a sugar daddy.

DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR

Based on the number of tim this qutn drops to my mailbox, the reasons for the age-discrepant attractns nsum a great al of bandwidth the thoughts of a lot of young gay and bisexual men. Was pletg his doctoral dissertatn, “May-December: Navigatg Life as an Intergeneratnal Gay Couple, ” he thoroughly rearched what proved to be the limed available lerature on tergeneratnal upl.

Their work will fort men the double jeopardy of beg both gay and lovg someone much olr or younger. Gass is a gay man whose only sexual attractn is to men signifintly olr than he is. The younger men have more tert sports than their partners and their gay peers who are attracted to men their own age.

The younger men tend to be more mascule than their gay peers who are attracted to men their own age.

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

He wrote, “I stggle more to expla my attractn to olr gay men to my gay iends than I do to my straight iends.

” No one has llected reliable statistics, but age dispary seems to occur more equently gay relatnships than heterosexual on.