Grandpa’s gay: Explag my dad’s new hband to my kids - The Washgton Post

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.

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

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?

THE STORY BEHD THE INIC PHOTO OF GAY DADS KISSG

“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.

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

) 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. ”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.

MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI

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. “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.

DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR

"Gay Dads Kissg" by J.

"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. 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. ” 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.

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

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

” 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. 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. Hey, a gay dad n Shondaland directly your box: SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

Such a photograph would have been extraordarily rare jt s ago, but now is one of many published the book “Dads, ” a four-year visual archive of gay fatherhood across Ameri that began 2016. “I felt a ltle b lonely as a gay dad – although there are two of – but lonely the sense that all the other fai I knew were straight parents, ” Heynen said a vio ll, explag why he began photographg the seri. “I also thought was important for (my kids) to see other fai wh gay dads.

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

“For many people, the book will be an troductn to gay fatherhood. For Heynen, they reprent addnal love and re and help illtrate some of the cisn-makg that, though not exclive to them, all gay fathers mt ntend wh.

“Most of the women are Mormon, and Mormons don’t believe gay marriage and gays havg kids. Heynen, as well as the fathers he photographed, hope that the photographs “Dads” will dispel some of the hurtful stereotyp that still lger around gay fatherhood.