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

Contents:

• THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW
• 'LOVE ALWAYS WS': GAY FATHERS DISCS JOYS AND CHALLENG OF PARENTG MORN AMERI
• THE STORY BEHD THE INIC PHOTO OF GAY DADS KISSG
• I'M A GAY DAD. MY SON LOV SPORTS. HERE'S HOW THAT UNEXPECTEDLY CHANGED MY LIFE
• MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI
• DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR
• GRANDPA’S GAY: EXPLAG MY DAD’S NEW HBAND TO MY KIDS
• THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
• SGLE GAY DADS GIVE TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS: ‘I CREATED THE VILLAGE AROUND MYSELF’
• ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW

In this example, you happened to see him naked a settg that n be sexually arog for a lot of gay man. Jt as you didn’t choose to be gay and have the feelgs you have. 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. “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.

'LOVE ALWAYS WS': GAY FATHERS DISCS JOYS AND CHALLENG OF PARENTG MORN AMERI

) 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. “I asked Mom once if you were gay, ” I would have said. Pri month:How to celebrate Pri Month across New Jersey June“Father’s Day means so much more as a gay father, bee I thk there’s somethg very powerful beg able to say that I am part of a same-sex uple that’s able to say I am a father, ” Lyons said.

THE STORY BEHD THE INIC PHOTO OF GAY DADS KISSG

”Rosenberger, a Margate native who works real tate velopment and liv Atlantic Cy, me out when his children — Gerard, 31, and Annie, 28 — were son, Rosenberger said, “didn’t have trouble acceptg his gay father, wh the love that he had for his father. He had trouble acceptg any teasg that might e om his iends bee of his gay father. I had heard an awful lot of gay jok and stori and sults through the years when I was the closet.

”Rosenberger, now workg to brg a gay rort to Atlantic Cy, is unaaid to stand up for himself and his muny.

I’m not a fighter, but the gay muny is particularly subject to hostily wh the world.

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

“And New Jersey at the time had better adoptn laws than Pennsylvania for gay upl, and so we moved to Jersey specifilly to be parents. “Collgswood’s jt been very open to gay people, gay fai, " said Piacquad, 59.

1%, acrdg to a Gallup poll released Febary, double the percentage om when Gallup first started measurg inty a anti-LGBTQ actn is beg taken stateho and urtrooms across the untry, om legislatn targetg transgenr people to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law limg -school discsn of sexual orientatn and genr fall, the Uned Stat Supreme Court, seven years after legalizg marriage equaly, will hear arguments on whether bs may refe to sell goods and servic to LGBTQ people based on relig objectns. "Gay Dads Kissg" by J.

MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI

"Gay Dads Kissg" was a history-makg photograph that ntu to hearten and ronate wh many. The story of "Gay Dads Kissg" is a story about mment to showg love and the wakg up of the publishg world.

In the fall of 1982, Bghman’s attentn was ught by a small notice, almost missed, the Village Voice, an alternative newspaper New York Cy, for the monthly meetg of the Gay Fathers’ Fom support group.

DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR

In the 1980s most gay men still did not talk about or adm to beg gay. Most gay dads lived as straight men marriag.

GRANDPA’S GAY: EXPLAG MY DAD’S NEW HBAND TO MY KIDS

Bghman was also aware that a pendg feral urt se would ci whether gay fathers uld have ctody rights.

Their goal was to pict a happy, healthy gay fay wh dads willg to be visible to the world. Life had yet to e the word gay the magaze, or highlight any person as LGBTQ+, let alone put them on the ver. The photographer and thor, wh the help of the Gay Fathers’ Fom’s work, terviewed 49 upl before all the piec and requirements fell to place.

THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS

Life published the 12 pag, but whout "Gay Dads Kissg. "Gay Dads Kissg" ran Christopher Street, a gay tert magaze, issue number 75, “Father Knows Bt, ” wh acpanyg text wrten by one of the dads, Michael.

SGLE GAY DADS GIVE TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS: ‘I CREATED THE VILLAGE AROUND MYSELF’

” Bghman’s photograph "Gay Dads Kissg" found s double-page spread the sectn tled “In Love. Wh a few weeks of the article, Robert was beg set up to be fired for beg gay, but he had wisely set the stage to protect his job by garnerg support om the chairman—a black man, who also unrstood what workplace discrimatn meant. Michael also shared that he and Robert rema pleased to have been part of the history that raised the issue of parental rights for gay parents to a wir dience.

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

Sadly, Michael’s dghter, Brtan, seen the background of "Gay Dads Kissg, " passed away at the age of 33 om pnmonia.